Latest news with #CitadelSecurities
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Citadel Securities' Esposito says US deficit is a 'ticking time bomb'
By Anirban Sen NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. government's growing debt pile is a "ticking time bomb" and how the Trump administration reacts to this crisis is going to be "super important", Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito said on Thursday. Several other leaders of the financial services industry have issued similar warnings about the current U.S. deficit in recent weeks. Earlier in June, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. national debt is a "big deal" that could create a "tough time" for the bond market that causes spreads to widen. "The stock of debt and the budget deficit is a ticking time bomb. No one is smart enough to predict when exactly it will rear its ugly head. We've been talking about this for more than 20 years, so in some ways the market's gone into complacency, but over a multi-year period we can work this out," Esposito said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Trading Conference. Shifting U.S. economic policies have sent bond markets tumbling in recent weeks. In May, ratings agency Moody's downgraded the U.S. sovereign credit rating. Long-dated bonds have been under pressure due to deficit concerns, with investors delivering a tepid response to a 20-year auction in May and sending the 30-year bond yield to its highest level since October 2023. Higher bond yields can translate into higher borrowing costs for consumers, businesses and governments. Citadel Securities, a market-making behemoth that was founded by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, plans to double down on cryptocurrency trading this year under a new regulatory framework. "This year you'll see us getting more active providing liquidity on specific crypto exchanges. So that's a part of our strategic plan. I think we'll execute on that in this calendar year, like everybody else," said Esposito. "We're excited by the prospects of the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) coming out with the rule set. So crypto is definitely a space we're going to get bigger in, and we're excited about the prospects," he added. The market volatility this year has boosted the fortunes of large market makers like Citadel Securities and Jane Street. During the first quarter of 2025, Citadel Securities' net trading revenue surged 45% to $3.4 billion, while its profit jumped 70% - a record for the firm, according to people familiar with the matter. "The number of growth opportunities that lie in front of us is almost unlimited. In our core businesses, our equity business at the moment is a bit too skewed towards the U.S. at the expense of the rest of the world - so Europe is a very big growth opportunity for us," Esposito said.
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
‘Ticking Time Bomb'—Stark $37 Trillion Wall Street Warning Fuels Huge Bitcoin Price Predictions
Bitcoin and crypto prices have soared this year, fuelled by a combination of U.S. president Donald Trump's support and Wall Street adoption (with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk making a dramatic return to the front lines of crypto this week). Front-run Donald Trump, the White House and Wall Street by subscribing now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor where you can "uncover blockchain blockbusters poised for 1,000% plus gains!" The bitcoin price, after rebounding sharply from its April lows, has held above $100,000 per bitcoin since early May even after BlackRock issued a serious bitcoin warning. Now, as fears swirl of a 'cataclysmic' U.S. dollar collapse, Jim Esposito, the president of market maker Citadel Securities, has warned the spiraling $37 trillion U.S. debt pile is a 'ticking time bomb'—adding to similar warnings that some think could be about to send the bitcoin price sharply higher. Sign up now for the free CryptoCodex—A daily five-minute newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious that will get you up to date and keep you ahead of the bitcoin and crypto market bull run Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is grappling with a $37 trillion debt "ticking time bomb" as ... More Wall Street's embrace of crypto pushes up the bitcoin price. 'The stock of debt and the budget deficit is a ticking time bomb,' Esposito said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Trading Conference in comments reported by Reuters. 'No one is smart enough to predict when exactly it will rear its ugly head. We've been talking about this for more than 20 years, so in some ways the market's gone into complacency, but over a multi-year period we can work this out.' Esposito added that Citadel Securities, a Wall Street market-making giant that was founded by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, plans to ramp up its bitcoin and crypto trading this year in anticipation of a new crypto regulatory framework. "Crypto is definitely a space we're going to get bigger in, and we're excited about the prospects," Esposito added. The worsening U.S. debt crisis, which has dramatically blown up the relationship between Elon Musk and president Trump this week, was exacerbated by massive government spending through Covid lockdowns. The rise in U.S. debt comes as the Federal Reserve, led by chair Jerome Powell, holds the line on interest rates despite pressure from Trump and the bond market suffers highly volatile swings that are a sign of waning faith in the U.S. from investors. Economic and monetary uncertainty has pushed some traders and companies toward bitcoin, leading to a flood of bullish bitcoin price predictions. Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious The bitcoin price has set a new all-time high in recent weeks, soaring as fears swirl around the ... More spiraling U.S. debt pile. 'The dominant story for bitcoin has changed again,' Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick wrote in an emailed note. 'It was correlation to risk assets ... It then became a way to position for strategic asset reallocation out of U.S. assets.' Kendrick has predicted the bitcoin price will soar to $500,000 per bitcoin by the end of Trump's presidency in early 2029 as a result of his U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve and the ending of stifling regulations that will see more companies by bitcoin. 'Institutions are reinforcing their exposure to bitcoin, building out their bitcoin treasuries,' Seamus Rocca, the chief executive of bitcoin and crypto custody company Xapo Bank, said in emailed comments. "Whether you're looking at institutional flows or retail behavior, the message is the same: conviction in bitcoin's long-term value is holding firm–and growing.'
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hedge funder Ken Griffin doesn't get why Trump wants to take China's jobs: ‘Why are we aspiring to be the nation of the lowest- cost workforce in the world?'
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin says President Donald Trump's tariff policy on China is misguided as the jobs it would 'reshore' are mostly those making low-value items. 'There's no money in there for anybody, and there's certainly no money for doing those jobs,' Griffin said at a forum in New York. Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel Securities who backed Donald Trump in 2024 election, is taking issue with the president's tariff policy. Griffin tore into Trump's tariffs during an appearance Thursday at the Forbes Iconoclast Summit in New York, describing tariffs as 'protectionist policy' that 'comes at a great price to the U.S. consumer.' The president's shifting tariff policy has resulted, for now, in a 30% tariff on most imports from China and the end of ultra-cheap imports from the likes of fast-fashion label Shein and Temu. And that pain for the U.S. consumer isn't helping the American worker, Griffin said. 'Americans want to wear Nikes, not make them,' he said, quoting a criticism from New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway. 'I don't know why we strive to bring back low value-added products to the United States,' Griffin continued. 'There's no money in there for anybody, and there's certainly no money for doing those jobs…. Jobs are actually walking out of China into lower-cost jurisdictions. 'Why are we aspiring to be the nation of the lowest cost workforce in the world?' In fact, China is asking the same question, according to Griffin. Speaking with Forbes editor-at-large Maneet Ahuja at the summit, Griffin recounted his trip to China in March, when he met with multiple government officials to discuss investing in the country. 'China dreams to be like the United States—a nation of very high value-added jobs, a nation rich in services, rich in high development … [with] a stunning GDP per capita,' Griffin said. ''China aspires to be like the United States,''Griffin said a Chinese government official told him. The person said, ''We want to be like you. Why are you trying to be like us?'' and gave 'a look of befuddlement,' according to Griffin. Griffin said he does support reshoring jobs—but for high-technology, high-value products. 'It's one thing to make Nikes, it's another thing to make F-35 fighters,' he said. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
14 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Meet the 0.4% of students who made it into Citadel's 2025 summer intern program — the firm's lowest acceptance rate yet
Ken Griffin's financial companies extended invites to less than half a percentage point of applicants for the firms' 2025 summer internship program. Read that again if you need to. Citadel, a hedge fund, and its sister firm Citadel Securities, a market maker, accepted just 0.4% of students who applied for this year's summer training program. It's a record level of exclusivity even for a pair of firms known for recruiting only the brainiest quants and traders. One reason may be the record number of applicants, 108,000 across the two firms — up 20% from last year. The group of more than 300 students will start their 11-week training next week. Citadel interns will kick off the summer with a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Interns at the market maker will take a trip to Palm Beach, Florida, later this summer. They hail from 80 schools worldwide. BI got an exclusive look inside the demographics of the cohort, including which universities they attend and their areas of study. We also spoke with the firms' dedicated campus recruiters, Matt Mitro with Citadel and Fabian Figi with Citadel Securities, about the increased interest and how they evaluate intern success. The record low acceptance rate at Griffin's trading empire is just the latest example of how the path to a career on Wall Street has become more competitive. Investment bank Goldman Sachs also boasted of record low acceptance rates last year. Even campus finance clubs, which help students prepare for industry recruiting, have adopted cutthroat entrance processes. "Citadel and Citadel Securities in particular, and the quantitative finance industry more broadly, have become a destination for top students worldwide," said Figi, the head of campus recruiting at the market maker. "Our internship program is one of our most important pipelines of talent." A Snapshot of the Class The class has more than 300 students globally who will work in software engineering; investing and trading; quantitative research; equities; and enterprise. New York and Miami will host the largest intern classes ever for both firms. The interns come from more than 80 schools globally, but the ones that are most represented are: MIT, Stanford, Waterloo, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Yale, UChicago, UT Austin, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, Columbia, and Oxford. 80% of the US interns study computer science and mathematics at their respective schools. The class includes more than a dozen USA Computing Olympiad Platinum division participants The class includes dozens of medalists from the International Olympiad in Math, Physics, and Informatics Increased interest Mitro said they've seen an "exponential increase" in application volume over the years, and attributes this year's record high in part to the firms' becoming "better understood" on college campuses. "We are thinking about where students are engaging and we're trying to be present with them. That's a big initiative for us," he said, adding, "So you are seeing things like our senior-most leaders on campus spending time with students and talking to them so they can get to know us on that level." The outreach comes as more hedge funds establish pipelines to recruit talent directly from college campuses in addition to investment banks, which is where they traditionally recruited junior talent. Citadel launched a program called CAP in 2020 to fast-track college juniors into associate roles within a year and a half. Balyasny, a competitor, recently started a new stock pitch competition aimed at recruiting sophomores for summer internships, and eventually jobs. In that vein, Griffin recently visited Stanford, the University of Cambridge, and Oxford University. This spring, Citadel Securities' CEO, Peng Zhao, attended events at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley. Other student programs the firms have established include a "trading invitational" for undergrads to get a taste of the life of a quant trader, and a new "macro central bank challenge" where undergrad teams propose a monetary policy recommendation and present findings to judges. Return offers & intern evaluation Next week, the 2025 class will embark on a summer in which they'll be asked to have almost immediate impact on the business and be a sponge of constant performance feedback. In evaluating their performance, the execs said they try to be clear about what success looks like from the start of the program. "Each intern has a weekly one-on-one check-in with their manager, and there are also a couple of checkpoints in the middle of the program and another at the end where they get very robust feedback on how they're doing," said Mitro. "By the time the program is over, every intern should have a very good understanding of where they stand and there shouldn't be any surprises." When it comes time to decide whether an intern gets a full-time job offer at the end of the summer, decisions are a "team effort" based on feedback from multiple leaders, including CEOs Griffin and Zhao themselves. "We have a rich and rigorous evaluation process that includes not only our intern managers but a variety of other voices as well," said Figi. "Every intern project is reviewed by multiple leaders, and Ken and Peng are involved in offer outcomes too." The execs said they don't anticipate changing their return offer rate at the end of the summer, even in what has been an uncertain and turbulent market. "We're not limited in the way other firms might be in terms of what we can offer to graduates," said Mitro. "Fortunately, that is not going to be an issue for us and it's a great position to be in — for our firms and for those who are interested in joining us."
New Straits Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Citadel Securities' Esposito says US deficit is a 'ticking time bomb'
NEW YORK: The US government's growing debt pile is a "ticking time bomb" and how the Trump administration reacts to this crisis is going to be "super important", Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito said on Thursday. Several other leaders of the financial services industry have issued similar warnings about the current US deficit in recent weeks. Earlier in June, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the US national debt is a "big deal" that could create a "tough time" for the bond market that causes spreads to widen. "The stock of debt and the budget deficit is a ticking time bomb. No one is smart enough to predict when exactly it will rear its ugly head. We've been talking about this for more than 20 years, so in some ways the market's gone into complacency, but over a multi-year period we can work this out," Esposito said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Trading Conference. Shifting US economic policies have sent bond markets tumbling in recent weeks. In May, ratings agency Moody's downgraded the US sovereign credit rating. Long-dated bonds have been under pressure due to deficit concerns, with investors delivering a tepid response to a 20-year auction in May and sending the 30-year bond yield to its highest level since October 2023. Higher bond yields can translate into higher borrowing costs for consumers, businesses and governments. Citadel Securities, a market-making behemoth that was founded by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, plans to double down on cryptocurrency trading this year under a new regulatory framework. "This year you'll see us getting more active providing liquidity on specific crypto exchanges. So that's a part of our strategic plan. I think we'll execute on that in this calendar year, like everybody else," said Esposito. "We're excited by the prospects of the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) coming out with the rule set. So crypto is definitely a space we're going to get bigger in, and we're excited about the prospects," he added. The market volatility this year has boosted the fortunes of large market makers like Citadel Securities and Jane Street. During the first quarter of 2025, Citadel Securities' net trading revenue surged 45 per cent to $3.4 billion, while its profit jumped 70 per cent - a record for the firm, according to people familiar with the matter. "The number of growth opportunities that lie in front of us is almost unlimited. In our core businesses, our equity business at the moment is a bit too skewed towards the US at the expense of the rest of the world - so Europe is a very big growth opportunity for us," Esposito said.
