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2024-01-18 03:35:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1986]}

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Meituan Dips Below 2018 IPO Price as Selloff Reaches Extremes

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meituan-dips-below-2018-ipo-033556552.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- A sustained, steep selloff in Meituan briefly drove the Chinese delivery giant’s stock below its 2018 initial public offering price. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump The Hong Kong-listed shares, which have slid 85% from an all-time high three years ago, closed Wednesday below the IPO price of HK$69. Meituan has tumbled on investor worry over its outlook due to weak Chinese consumer sentiment and increasing competition with rivals including ByteDance Ltd. The drop extended this year amid China’s persistent economic weakness, with Meituan tracking losses in a gauge of Chinese technology stocks listed in Hong Kong. Meituan Dives After Warning of Slowdown as Consumption Wanes The selloff highlights how investors have grown disenchanted with China’s internet majors. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is down 78% from record levels, while Tencent Holdings Ltd. has dropped more than 60% from its peak. There are signs that Meituan’s decline has become excessive, with the stock dipping back below technical oversold levels on Wednesday. Its current share price is 25% below even the most bearish analyst’s target, Bloomberg-compiled data show. “We believe the market has been overly negative on Meituan’s growth and earnings outlook on competition,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Ronald Keung wrote in a Jan. 16 note. The broker says the slide is unjustified given that the company’s food delivery business volumes have grown threefold over the past five years while profitability has surged by 20 times. --With assistance from Jeanny Yu. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 03:36:10+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5676]}

{}

Samsung Banks on AI to Lift Galaxy Phones to Best Sales in Years

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-seeks-double-digit-sales-180000340.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. is pinning its hopes for a mobile revival on artificial intelligence. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Say Buy the Dip After Treasury Rout AI will lift the global smartphone market back to growth and Samsung expects to outperform that with sales of its latest flagship devices, mobile chief TM Roh said in an interview. South Korea’s largest company on Wednesday unveiled the Galaxy S24 product family, days after losing the crown of world’s biggest smartphone maker to Apple Inc. and its iPhone. The new devices are replete with AI enhancements, from Samsung and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, including built-in live translation of calls and a new search tool that lets users circle an image on the phone to get related information. Samsung also sprung a surprise by previewing the Galaxy Ring, an upcoming health-tracking gadget that shows its ambition to challenge Apple on another front. Samsung is staking a lot on being early to integrate AI into the overall user experience and stealing a march on rivals like Apple and Xiaomi Corp. The company is targeting double-digit sales growth with its new flagship lineup, Roh said. Its sales of the Galaxy S24 models could be the best for that range in eight years and Samsung is positioned to grab half of the prospective market for AI-enhanced phones, according to KB Securities estimates. The Korean firm, whose strength is usually in hardware, won’t go it alone. Samsung is leaning on Google’s Gemini AI suite with these initial features and it’s also worked closely with OpenAI backer Microsoft Corp. To handle the on-device processing of AI tasks, it’s using Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon chips with dedicated processors for such jobs. Samsung and Google also recently announced they’ll reduce duplication in competing with Apple’s AirDrop by uniting around a single Android Quick Share feature. “What ultimately matters is the user experience,” Roh said in an interview with Bloomberg News in San Jose, California. “We are always open to collaboration with our partners on new areas of the mobile industry.” The company’s shares rose as much as 1.1% in Seoul on Thursday, following the showcase event at the SAP Centre in San Jose, Apple’s backyard. With an eye on attracting younger users, Samsung also highlighted enhanced camera zoom and editing features, including the option to convert regular video into slow motion by inserting frames with the help of AI. Story continues Read More: Samsung Bets on Google-Powered AI Features in Smartphone Revamp The Suwon-based company, also the world’s largest memory chipmaker, spent 2023 digesting insights from its users and tailoring new AI features and additions to enhance the appeal of its latest device generation. While AI and machine learning have long been used on phones, the rise of tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT has triggered a rush to deliver more sophisticated services directly on people’s devices. “The AI-related features can really bring convenience and could encourage consumers to switch their phones,” said Lee Changmin, an analyst at KB Securities. Some small-cap AI-related stocks in Korea already saw some gains before the S24 was unveiled and may move again after the launch, with the deciding factor being the quality of Samsung’s new added features. Samsung’s plans are not limited to the new handsets, as the company intends to roll out AI features to some of its earlier models in the Galaxy S series in the first half of this year, 55-year-old Roh said. The company recorded double-digit growth between its Galaxy S22 and last year’s S23 generation, giving it confidence it can repeat the feat. Its new Galaxy Ring health tracker will also be released this year, according to Hon Pak, head of Samsung’s mobile digital health team. The teaser to the device comes just as Apple is navigating a lawsuit around the oxygen-measuring features of its Apple Watch. Samsung intends to integrate the Galaxy Ring closely with its smartphones in order to make a stronger ecosystem proposition to consumers. Still, the global smartphone market has been in the doldrums for years and was again down last year. Samsung’s own shipments declined by 13.6% in 2023, according to IDC estimates. Roh expects both to rebound in 2024, as the advent of AI injects some much-needed excitement into the category. Many consumers are also due for upgrades following a sales boom in 2021, with the typical upgrade cycle now being roughly three years, he added. Roh, like some market estimates, expects the global smartphone shipments to expand by around 5% to 6% this year, though he hopes to outperform the consensus with Samsung’s new devices. After ceding ground to Apple last year, Samsung sees room to regain its position. That’s because AI — even while it risks consumer fatigue with excessive hype — is not a fad, Roh said. Like the era of the internet and smartphones, AI signals a seismic shift in our relationship with technology, which may reorganize the industry’s leadership, he said. “The S24 marks just the beginning of a new era when AI technologies go mainstream,” Roh said. “Hopefully it will help revitalize the global mobile industry.” --With assistance from Youkyung Lee. (Updates with details of Samsung strategy and share price move) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 04:27:42+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [9, 101, 748, 1043, 1106, 1211, 1262, 1298]}

{"Bitcoin": [9]}

Bankrupt Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific to Relist on Nasdaq After Reorganization

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bankrupt-bitcoin-miner-core-scientific-042742977.html

CoinMarketCap

https://coinmarketcap.com/

Bankrupt Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific to Relist on Nasdaq After Reorganization Core Scientific, the Bitcoin mining firm that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2022, is set to exit bankruptcy in the coming days and relist its shares on the Nasdaq by the end of January 2024. The bankruptcy court has approved Core's reorganization plan, which will see shareholders receive shares of the company's new common stock, representing 60% of the new equity. This announcement follows Core's successful oversubscribed $55 million equity rights offering earlier this month. Core CEO Adam Sullivan expressed optimism about the company's future, stating that it would emerge from bankruptcy stronger than before. Sullivan said that “with demand for Bitcoin and high-value compute continuing to rise, we look forward to creating value for our shareholders as we execute our growth plan, de-lever our balance sheet and deliver superior efficiency at scale.” Core's bankruptcy filing came during a challenging period for the crypto industry, with Bitcoin falling to a low of $16,000 in November 2022. However, Bitcoin has since rebounded significantly, now trading at around $43,000, driven by the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The upcoming Bitcoin halving in April will slash Bitcoin mining rewards by half. Let us know what you loved about this article, what could be improved, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form .

2024-01-18 04:37:06+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1532]}

{}

Crypto Projects With Combined $383B in Valuation Based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-projects-combined-383b-valuation-043706310.html

CoinMarketCap

https://coinmarketcap.com/

Crypto Projects With Combined $383B in Valuation Based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein Crypto projects based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein have experienced a remarkable surge in value, with a 107% year-over-year increase to reach $383 billion, according to a report by Swiss venture capital firm Crypto Valley (CV VC). Ethereum, through the Ethereum Foundation, leads the pack with a market cap of $273 billion, followed by Solana at $43.3 billion and Cardano at $20.8 billion. This growth is largely attributed to the overall recovery in the crypto market. However, the global Web3 venture capital landscape is yet to fully recover. CV VC researchers counted 1,031 deals amounting to $9.8 billion in VC funding for Web3 firms in2023, representing a significant decline compared to 2022. In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, crypto firms raised $283.5 million across 49 deals in2023, compared to $964.3 million through 93 deals in2022. Despite the funding decline, Switzerland and Liechtenstein remain important players in the Web3 space, attracting approximately 5% of all Web3 venture capital funding. Over 1,290 Web3 firms are based or headquartered in these two countries, including prominent entities like Cosmos, Internet Computer, Near, Polkadot, and Solana. Mathias Ruch, CEO of CV VC, emphasized the innovative legacy of Switzerland and the role of these firms in strengthening local and global economies. Switzerland and surrounding countries are known for their blockchain adoption. The city of Lugano started accepting Bitcoin and Tether for municipal tax payments. Let us know what you loved about this article, what could be improved, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form . View comments

2024-01-18 04:39:30+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [0, 132, 286, 571, 1352]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Hash Rate Drops by 34% as Texas’ Temperature Drops Below Zero

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-hash-rate-drops-34-043930984.html

CoinMarketCap

https://coinmarketcap.com/

Bitcoin Hash Rate Drops by 34% as Texas’ Temperature Drops Below Zero A sudden freeze in Texas has caused a significant drop in the Bitcoin hash rate, as miners in the state were forced to curtail operations to support the state's energy grid. According to data from YCharts, the total Bitcoin network hash rate fell by 34% from over 629 exahashes per second (EH/s) on January 11 to roughly 415 EH/s on January 15. The hash rate partially recovered to over 454 EH/s on January 16 as temperatures briefly rose above freezing in Austin. Texas accounts for about 29% of the Bitcoin hash rate in the United States, with many mining firms relocating there after China's crackdown on crypto mining. Several companies, including Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Bitdeer, and Core Scientific, have operations in Texas. Unlike in 2021, when a winter storm caused widespread power outages, there were fewer reports of significant disruptions to Texas' power grid this time. Many mining firms participate in a program organized by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) that compensates them for adjusting their load on the grid during periods of high demand. Mining firms such as Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms confirmed that they curtailed operations to support the Texas electric grid and its citizens during the cold weather. The drop in the Bitcoin hash rate due to the Texas freeze highlights the potential impact of extreme weather events on the cryptocurrency mining industry. As of January 17, ERCOT reported that grid conditions in Texas were expected to return to normal starting at midnight local time. Let us know what you loved about this article, what could be improved, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form . View comments

2024-01-18 05:09:57+00:00

{"BTC": [4142]}

{}

States expand low-interest loan programs for farms, businesses and new housing

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/states-expand-low-interest-loan-050957336.html

Associated Press Finance

http://www.ap.org/

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — On the first business day of the new year, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek began accepting applications for about $120 million of state-subsidized, low-interest loans to small businesses, farmers and affordable housing developers. Within six hours, Malek had so many requests for the money that he had to cut off applications . “The demand is huge, and it is real,” Malek said. Missouri's situation, though extreme, is not entirely unique. From New York to Illinois to Montana, states have seen surging public interest in little-known programs that use state funds to spur private investment with bargain-priced loans. The programs have taken off after a series of key interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve made virtually all loans more expensive , whether for farmers purchasing seed or businesses wanting to expand. To combat inflation in consumer prices, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times from March 2022 to last July, setting it at a two-decade high. Under so-called linked-deposit programs, states deposit money in banks at below-market interest rates. Banks then leverage those funds to provide short-term, low-interest loans to particular borrowers, often in agriculture or small business. The programs can save thousands of dollars for borrowers by reducing their interest rates by an average 2-3 percentage points. States typically cap the amount of money available for such discounted rates at either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of their total fund balances, because the programs result in less earnings for the state. Many states have built large surpluses from pandemic-era revenues, meaning they have more money available to deposit in banks. Though most states don't currently offer such programs, some that shelved them when interest rates were low are now considering whether to revive them to aid financially-strapped businesses and residents. “I can say in talks with other state treasurers that there is a definite increased interest in treasury money, whether that is through a linked-deposit program or a different vehicle," said Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, who is president of the National Association of State Treasurers. Story continues Illinois has nearly $950 million of deposits linked to low-interest loans for farmers, businesses and individuals. That's up substantially from past years. In 2015, Frerichs said, the state's agricultural investment program had just two low-interest loans. By 2022, that had grown to $51 million of loans. Last year, Illinois made $667 million of low-rate deposits for agricultural loans. With rising demand, Frerichs recently raised the program’s overall cap from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. Though smaller in scope, New York's program also has seen an explosion of applicants. In 2022, New York had 42 applications for state deposits in financial institutions linked to $20 million in low-interest loans. Last year, that rose to 317 applications linked to more than $220 million of loans, said Rafael Salaberrios, a senior vice president who manages capital access programs at Empire State Development, New York's economic development agency. “As the banks see the benefit, they are inundating us with applications — and that’s a good thing,” Salaberrios said. He added: "The linked deposit has allowed for the growth of small businesses to continue even during these high (interest) rate environments.” Because of rising demand, Missouri's linked-deposit loan program neared its statutory cap of $800 million last May. After some existing loans expired, the treasurer's office was able to reopen applications at 10 a.m. on Jan. 2. By 4 p.m. that day, it had approached the cap again — receiving 142 applications totaling over $119 million — and closed the application window. About half the applications came on behalf of customers of just two financial institutions — OakStar Bank and FCS Financial, a leading agricultural lender. FCS Financial had over 100 additional applications in line to submit when applications were cut off, said Brian Zimmerschied, vice president for its commercial crop lending team. BTC Bank in rural Bethany, Missouri, had planned to turn in about dozen applications on behalf of its customers. But it missed out entirely because of the quick cutoff, bank CEO Doug Fish said. Among those left disappointed was Jason Bernard, a farmer near Bethany who had hoped for a low-interest loan to help purchase this year's supply of seed, fertilizer and chemical spray. With higher interest rates, "it’s a lot harder to make it, just because your payments,” Bernard said. The Missouri treasurer's office is backing legislation to raise the program's cap from $800 million to $1.2 billion, which would mark a 50% increase in capacity. The expansion could cost the state $12 million of potential earnings, though that could be partly offset by the economic activity generated from those loans, according to a legislative fiscal analysis . In Montana, lawmakers last year authorized a new program to address a shortage of affordable housing. The Montana Board of Investments launched a linked-deposit loan initiative in October that received $77 million of applications within two months, reaching a self-imposed cap and forcing it to close applications sooner than expected. Republican state Rep. Mike Hopkins, who sponsored the housing incentive legislation, was thrilled with the response. “We’re in a bit of a jam in the state of Montana" for affordable housing, Hopkins said, and “we were able to get money out the door as quickly as possible.” Officials in Iowa, Kansas and Ohio also told the AP they had increased demand for programs that deposit state money in banks to provide low-interest loans. The number of such loan recipients in Kansas tripled from 2022 to 2023. In Ohio, the amount of money provided for those loans rose by two-thirds during that time, to more than $600 million. Oklahoma's linked-deposit program has been dormant since 2010 amid low interest rates, but at least two banks recently contacted the treasurer's office about the possibility of restarting it, said Deputy Treasurer Jordan Harvey. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he hadn't approved any linked deposits for low-interest loans since taking office in 2015 — until last year, when he approved his first two. “There wasn’t much need because interest rates were cheap," Miller said. "But now that the rates are up," Miller added, “it could be a viable program, and we could help some people.”

2024-01-18 05:10:06+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3227]}

{}

US stocks fall as strong data pushes out rate-cut timelines

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-fall-strong-data-051006825.html

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/

Traders work on floor of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after opening bell in New York Reuters US stocks fell on Wednesday as investors took in strong retail sales data. Holiday spending was stronger than expected, with retail sales rising 0.6% in December. All three benchmark indexes ended the day lower, while bond yields climbed. US stocks fell and bond yields rose on Wednesday as traders took in strong economic data that further complicates forecasts for speedy rate cuts from the US central bank. Major indexes ended lower as data showed holiday spending was stronger than expected, helping to drive a 0.6% jump in retail sales in December, above the 0.4% increase economists were expecting. The 10-year Treasury yield rose three basis points to 4.104%. Robust consumer spending has helped buoy the US economy for the past year, keeping GDP growth strong despite tightening financial conditions. The fresh data could put pressure on the Fed to keep monetary policy tight, as central bankers are looking for the US economy to show signs it's cooling off and inflation is decisively falling. Consumer Price Index data showed inflation accelerated more than expected in December, with inflation rising 3.4% year-over-year. "This level of spending does not indicate any consumer retrenchment and puts further pressure on the Federal Reserve to remain hawkish. Good times economically speaking may be painful for the rate doves positioning, who had collectively expected a slowing economy to propel the Fed into sooner rate cuts. We aren't there just yet," GAM Investment's Charles Hepworth said on Wednesday. Investors are now pricing in a near-100% chance the Fed will keep rates unchanged at its next policy meeting, up from a 90% chance priced in a month ago. But markets are still anticipating aggressive rate cuts by the end of the year, with a 35% odds that the Fed will cut rates by 150 basis-points, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Here's where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. closing bell on Wednesday: S&P 500 : 4,739.21, down 0.56% Dow Jones Industrial Average : 37,266.67, down 0.25% (-94.45 points) Nasdaq Composite : 14,855.62, down 0.59% Story continues Here's what else is going on: Elon Musk is "blackmailing" Tesla investors by threatening to build new projects outside the company, one long-time Tesla bull says. Crashing solar panel prices could force one of Europe's biggest production plants to close US debt could face a buyer "boycott" if fiscal policy isn't cleaned up, according to Standard Chartered's CEO. An overlooked area of the stock market could soar a whopping 60% in 2024, Fundstrat's Tom Lee says. The growing adoption of AI could drive tech stocks higher for the rest of the decade, UBS said. JPMorgan spends $15 billion a year and employs 62,000 technologists to defend against hackers . Chinese stocks just notched their worst day in over a year as economic turmoil keeps global investors bearish. In commodities, bonds, and crypto: West Texas Intermediate inched up 0.5% to $72.76 a barrel. Brent crude , the international benchmark, edged lower 0.3% to 78.03 a barrel. Gold dipped 1% lower to $2,008.90 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed three basis points to 4.104%. Bitcoin slipped 1.47% to $42,624. Read the original article on Business Insider

2024-01-18 05:12:36+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [638, 657]}

{}

Donald Trump Vows to 'Never Allow' Central Bank Digital Currencies if Elected

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-promises-never-allow-051236053.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Former President and front-runner in the Republican leadership race, Donald Trump, has promised to ban the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” Trump said on stage, joined by crypto-friendly former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently suspended his campaign. JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Donald Trump says "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money." pic.twitter.com/lSE2AGYgOm — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 18, 2024 “This would be a dangerous threat to freedom, and I will stop it from coming to America,” he continued. “Such a currency would give a federal government, absolute control over your money. They could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone.” CBDCs are digital versions or tokenized versions of cash that are issued and regulated by central banks that may or may not use blockchain as an underlying technology. Read More: Donald Trump's New Bit NFTs Have Limits Normal Ones Don't Trump, once a critic of crypto , owned over $2.5 million in ether according to an August 2023 disclosure. While there's currently no proposal from the Federal Reserve to introduce a CBDC, this hasn't stopped it from becoming a hot issue in U.S. politics, particularly on the campaign trail. CBDCs have emerged as one of the hottest issues for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' office, generating more public interest than the usual wedge issues of gun rights and abortion, CoinDesk reported last May. "If CBDCs are the encroachment on our civil liberties that the majority of people believe they are, we don't have time to wait,” Samuel Armes, of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, said at the time. “At the end of the day, if the Feds want something, they're going to try to get it. So it's our job to try and stop it.” Armes and the Florida Blockchain Business Association helped draft Florida's anti-CBDC bill, which recently passed the state's Senate. In a November report , Bank of America said that while central banks are exploring CBDCs globally, the issuance of a U.S. digital dollar by the Federal Reserve is unlikely in the near term.

2024-01-18 08:47:53+00:00

{"BTC": [588]}

{}

Woo Raises $9M to Boost Liquidity of WOO X Exchange

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/woo-raises-9m-boost-liquidity-084753153.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Woo announced that it had closed a $9 million round from a number of current and future market makers on the platform in order to improve liquidity on its WOO X exchange. “We are thrilled to share the expanded relationship of market makers on WOO X following the launch of our DMM program in August last year. Notably, these leading market makers have collectively contributed $9 million in funding, underscoring their confidence in our platform,” Woo Co-founder Jack Tan said in a release. “We anticipate liquidity on WOO X to improve substantially in the next few months, starting with BTC and ETH perpetual futures markets and expanding into altcoin perpetual futures and all spot markets,” he continued. Participants in the raise include Wintermute and Amber, in addition to other notable liquidity providers. In the third quarter of last year, WOO X said it had shifted from a single liquidity provider – Kronos Research – to a diverse ecosystem and plans to launch a designated market maker (DMM) program for spot markets in the first quarter of 2024. Tan said that Woo plans to use the funds for global expansion, product development, and regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring the exchange prioritizes liquidity provider interests over capital raising, focusing on market makers’ participation rather than traditional venture capitalists. In 2021, Woo Network closed a $30 Million Series A . In October of last year, it bought back its shares and tokens from the bankruptcy estate of Three Arrows Capital, which participated in Series A.

2024-01-18 08:50:52+00:00

{"BTC": [89]}

{"Bitcoin": [34]}

Crypto Markets Optimistic Despite Bitcoin's Plunge, CoinDesk 20 Perpetual Futures Show

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-market-sentiment-remains-optimistic-085052640.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Crypto traders’ outlook for the broader market remains constructive even though bitcoin [BTC], the leading digital asset by market value, has lost over 10% in market value since the debut of spot ETFs in the U.S. a week ago. That’s the message from the Bullish exchange’s perpetual futures market tied to the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), where funding rates were positive early Thursday. Bullish is the owner of CoinDesk. Perpetuals are futures with no expiry, with a funding rate mechanism that involves periodic payments between long (buy) and short (sell) traders to ensure the price of perpetual aligns with the underlying index price. A positive funding rate means perpetual contracts are trading at a premium to the index price, with longs paying funding fees to shorts, signifying bullish market expectations. A negative rate suggests otherwise. The positive funding rate represents bullish market sentiment. (Bullish) At 06:50 UTC, the funding rate in the USDC-denominated CD20 perpetual futures was 0.0175%, implying leverage is skewed on the bullish side. Crypto exchange Bullish calculates the funding rate every hour, debiting or crediting the amount from users’ accounts according to their positions. CoinDesk Indices, a subsidiary of CoinDesk , introduced the CoinDesk20 index on Wednesday. The CoinDesk 20 is a broad crypto market benchmark, representing over 90% of the total value. While bitcoin and ether [ETH] account for just over 50% of the index, other tokens like filecoin [FIL], stellar's XLM, aptos' APT, XRP, dogecoin [DOGE], and others make for the rest, making it an S&P 500-like gauge. Since its inception, Bullish’s CD20 perpetual contracts have registered a trading volume of nearly $18.11 million. (the amount is arrived at by multiplying the 24-hour volume by the index price). The positive sentiment reflected by the CD20 perpetual futures is consistent with the positioning in perpetual futures for individual cryptocurrencies. Annualized funding rates have averaged around 10% to 12% on Binance and other exchanges. (Velo Data) According to Velo Data, the annualized funding rates in perpetual futures tied to the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap and traded on major exchanges like Binance have been consistently positive, hovering around 10% to 12% since last Thursday. Binance and several other exchanges collect funding fees every eight hours. A similar pattern is seen in mid-cap tokens. Funding rate in mid-cap tokens. (Velo Data)

2024-01-18 08:54:11+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1913]}

{}

Japanese Chip Gear Sales Seen Climbing 27% in Fiscal 2024 on AI

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japanese-chip-gear-sales-seen-085411970.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Sales of Japanese semiconductor equipment are expected to surge 27% to ¥4.03 trillion ($27 billion) in the fiscal year starting April, helped by demand for new AI-related spending, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump The industry group, which includes Tokyo Electron Ltd., Advantest Corp., and Screen Holdings Co., said it expected a “significant” recovery in spending by memory chipmakers in the September-March period on top of recovery from foundries and logic chipmakers. Growth is expected to continue at 10% in the following year through March 2026, it said. New chips optimized for generative AI and investment in AI-supporting servers will help bolster demand, SEAJ chairman and Tokyo Electron’s Chief Executive Officer Toshiki Kawai said Thursday. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it’s budgeting a possible rise in capital spending in 2024, with CEO C. C. Wei reiterating he expects a return to “healthy growth” this year. Revenue for Japanese chip equipment makers in the current year to March is expected to fall 19%, a milder drop than the 23% decline the industry group forecast in July, thanks in part to strong sales in the Chinese market. “Chinese investment has been more aggressive than expected,” given restrictions on exports of cutting-edge tools, Kawai said. “Companies are actively investing in areas that are less susceptible to regulatory oversight.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 09:07:08+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1617]}

{}

Pakistan Markets Slide After Islamabad Strikes Back at Iran

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pakistan-markets-slide-islamabad-strikes-090708144.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s stocks slid the most in Asia and dollar bonds weakened after the South Asian nation retaliated against Iran with missile strikes against militant hideouts, stoking investor concern over the escalating tensions. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ The benchmark KSE-100 Index tumbled as much as 1.6% on Thursday, before paring its loss to about 0.8%. The nation’s dollar bonds were the worst performers in emerging markets on the day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Pakistan rupee was little changed. An escalation in tension will cause more pressure on the stock market, which may tumble by as much as 5%, Sunny Kumar, the deputy head of research at Topline Securities Ltd., said from Karachi. The exchange of missile strikes adds to the uncertainty in Pakistan as elections in February approach, with the nation’s recovery from a debt crisis at stake. Investors were rewarded last year with equities surging more than 50% and dollar bonds handing returns of almost 100% after Pakistan secured a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund. --With assistance from Ashutosh Joshi. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 09:11:24+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3773]}

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Europe Car Sales Drop in December Led by EV Slump

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/europe-car-sales-drop-december-070000150.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s automakers are bracing for slower growth this year after sales fell for the first time in 17 months in December on waning enthusiasm for electric vehicles. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ New-vehicle registrations declined 3.8% to 1.05 million units last month, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said Thursday. Sales slumped nearly a quarter in the region’s biggest market Germany after EV incentives ran out, weighing on growth in other key countries. Elevated borrowing costs, a sluggish economy in parts of Europe and growing pessimism around EVs are clouding the industry’s outlook. Bloomberg Intelligence is predicting sales growth this year to slow to 5%, from 14% in 2023. This will likely depress car prices and squeeze returns for automakers, according to Bernstein analysts. “Pent-up demand has started to fade,” the analysts led by Daniel Roeska said in a note this month. Dealerships and manufacturers “will soon face the full force of sluggish demand.” Tesla Inc. slashed prices for its best-selling Model Y in markets including Germany, France and Norway this week. The US carmaker is planning to temporarily halt production of the vehicle at its plant near Berlin, citing logistics issues sparked by the fighting in the Red Sea. Last month, Audi said it’s paring back its EV rollout. The strong decline in Germany, where EV registrations nearly halved last month, outweighed growth in markets including the UK, Spain and France. Read More: Hertz’s Tesla Fire Sale Portends an EV Reckoning: Hyperdrive EV sales rose 28% last year in the region, but slumped by a quarter in December amid falling registrations for battery-powered cars also in Sweden, the Netherlands and Croatia. The European Union recorded its first monthly drop in EV sales since April 2020, the height of the pandemic. Slowing demand for battery-powered vehicles also poses a fleet emissions problem for carmakers facing increasingly stringent EU targets in the coming years, analysts at Citi and Jefferies said. “In 2024, you’re going to have to see an increase in EV penetration in anticipation of emissions targets going down in steps,” said Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois. Some grounds for optimism remain. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde this week signaled a rate cut this summer was “likely,” fueling hopes of lower financing costs. In Italy, where registrations rose 6% in December, the government is considering a €930 million ($1 billion) package to bolster EV sales, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Story continues Read More: Italy Weighs $1 Billion Package to Boost Electric-Car Sales Automakers are also racing to improve their products. A wave of 35 new battery-powered models to be introduced this year will provide customers with a more affordable choice, possibly allowing carmakers to bolster their brand and market position, the Bernstein analysts said. The vast majority of manufacturers managed to increase registrations in 2023 after supply of key parts including semiconductors improved. France’s Renault SA has had success selling affordable combustion-engine and electric cars including with its no-frills Dacia brand. --With assistance from Craig Trudell. (Updates with analyst quote in ninth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 09:28:54+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2604]}

{}

China’s Sudden Stock Rally Points to ETF Buying by State Funds

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-stocks-rebound-afternoon-amid-075532243.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese equity benchmarks rebounded in afternoon trading, with a jump in turnover in some major exchange-traded funds raising speculation that buying by state funds maybe behind the reversal. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ Traded value of the Huatai-Pinebridge CSI 300 ETF surged to 15.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) on Thursday, the highest since 2015, while those for Harvest CSI 300 Index ETF and E Fund CSI 300 ETF also saw extraordinary spikes. That coincided with gains in the CSI 300 benchmark of mainland shares, which closed 1.4% higher after declining as much as 1.8%. “The national team is likely stepping to stabilize the market as they have done in previous market crashes,” said Marvin Chen, a strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. Foreign investors were again net sellers of mainland equities after they dumped 13 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) worth of shares in the previous session, the most in more than a year. READ: China’s Stock Slump Shows No Signs of Let-Up as Risks Abound The rare advance in Chinese gauges comes after selloff extended into the new year amid skepticism over the economy. The latest economic data showed the country’s property crisis deepening, while geopolitical tensions with the US and Beijing’s policy whims continue to put investors on edge. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index finished the day 0.8% higher, reversing an earlier decline of 0.6%. Down 10% this year, the HSCEI gauge is the world’s worst-performing major index. During previous market slumps, state funds were suspected to be behind increases in the turnover of such ETFs as they stepped in to rescue the market. For instance, Central Huijin Investment Ltd., a sovereign wealth fund, bought an undisclosed amount of ETFs in October and vowed to keep increasing its holdings. READ: Record Turnover in China ETFs Fuels State Buying Speculation Such ETF-driven stock market gains, however, have barely lasted more than a few days. The moves may help improve short-term sentiment but do little to resolve fundamental problems plaguing the market, investors say. (Updates with closing prices.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 09:39:05+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4946]}

{}

Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pakistan-retaliates-strikes-militant-targets-052016906.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s military carried out targeted strikes against militant hideouts in Iran on Thursday, responding to an attack by Tehran a day earlier in a rare escalation of tensions that both sides signaled they don’t want to see get worse. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ Pakistan carried out morning strikes against “terrorist hideouts” in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The move followed Iran’s strikes against Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group based in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. “This action is a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats,” the foreign ministry said in a statement explaining its retaliatory actions. As many as nine foreigners were killed in the strike, including four children, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. Read more: Why Pakistan and Iran Attacked Each Other: QuickTake The tit-for-tat response is the most significant escalation between the two neighbors, both allies of China who have had strained relations in the past. While the strikes come at a time of rising turmoil in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war, Pakistani and Iranian officials also moved to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian phoned his Pakistani counterpart on Wednesday in an apparent move to ease tensions, even as Islamabad insisted it had the right to respond to the “illegal act” by Tehran. “Both sides right now will try to de-escalate while saving face, and the Chinese must be getting involved because they have close ties with both sides,” Jean-Loup Samaan, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore. Story continues ‘Dialogue and Cooperation’ Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq cut short a trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Thursday to help manage the crisis. That came after Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties by recalling its envoy to Tehran and asking the Iranian ambassador not to return to Islamabad. But there were words of caution as well. “Pakistan has also always emphasized dialogue and cooperation,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, told reporters Thursday. “We will continue to engage with our neighbor Iran to ensure that peace prevails and that the two countries make concerted and coordinated efforts to combat the threat of terrorism.” Baloch said Pakistan and Iran have “several channels of communication” to discuss the latest events. ‘Killer Drones’ Even Pakistan’s army, which in a statement said it used “killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons” in its strikes, added that, “Going forward, dialogue and cooperation is deemed prudent in resolving bilateral issues between the two neighboring brotherly countries.” China also said it is tracking the developments. “We hope both parties can exercise restraint and calmness, and can avoid escalation,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, said Thursday. Oil gained as the latest incidents underlined the region’s tensions, which have already created headwinds for global shipping and carry the potential for interruptions to crude production. Brent crude rose above $78 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate topped $73. The developments come at a particularly sensitive time for Pakistan, which is scheduled to hold delayed national elections early next month. It also takes place with Iranian-backed proxies engaged in conflicts in Israel and the Red Sea, with much of the world fearing a broader regional conflagration. Iran also undertook limited strikes in Iraq this week, saying they targeted a “Israeli spy base.” Iran said its strikes in Pakistan were aimed at Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group based in a largely ungoverned area bordering Iran that Tehran says has been a source of instability. Pakistan said that attack killed two children and injured three others. Jaish al-Adl is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US and the Sunni militant group operates along predominantly Shiite Iran’s porous border with Pakistan. It’s launched multiple attacks on Iranian security forces, most recently a December assault on a police station that killed 11 people. --With assistance from Martin Ritchie and Philip J. Heijmans. (Adds Pakistan Army statement in 11th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 10:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5352]}

{}

Microsoft’s Bing Market Share Barely Budged With ChatGPT Add-On

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-bing-market-share-barely-103000114.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- When Microsoft Corp. announced it was baking ChatGPT into its Bing search engine last February, bullish analysts declared the move an “iPhone moment” that could upend the search market and chip away at Google’s dominance. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump “The entire search category is now going through a sea change,” Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said at the time. “That opportunity comes very few times.” Almost a year later, the sea has yet to change. The new Bing — powered by OpenAI’s generative AI technology — dazzled internet users with conversational replies to queries asked in a natural way. But Microsoft’s search engine ended 2023 with just 3.4% of the global search market, according to data analytics firm StatCounter, up less than 1 percentage point since the ChatGPT announcement. Bing has long struggled for relevance and attracted more mockery than recognition over the years as a serious alternative to Google. Multiple rebrandings and redesigns since its 2009 debut did little to boost Bing’s popularity. A month before Microsoft infused the search engine with generative AI, people were spending 33% less time using it than they had 12 months earlier, according to SensorTower. The ChatGPT reboot at least helped reverse those declines. In the second quarter of 2023, US monthly active users more than doubled year over year to 3.1 million, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis of SensorTower mobile app data. Overall, users were spending 84% more time on the search engine, the data show. By year-end, Bing’s monthly active users had increased steadily to 4.4 million, according to SensorTower. To build on the momentum, Microsoft has been adding more AI tools to Bing. In October, the company integrated the latest version of OpenAI’s image-generating model, DALL-E 3. Visitors can use it to create realistic-looking images with simple text prompts. The offering does nothing to enhance Bing’s search abilities. But its addition generated a spike in usage, according to Jordi Ribas, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of search and AI. “We noticed an increase in usage by 10 times and that took us by surprise because if you think about it, DALL-E 2 was already quite good,” he said in an interview. “It really made a difference in the engagement and the users that came to our product.” Story continues Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer, declined to specify how many active users Bing has. “Look, it’s still early days and new behaviors are being built,” he said. “We’re still learning new things, but have millions and millions of people using the new tools.” Even as the Bing team adds crowd-pleasers, Google has been racing to develop its own AI tools. In May, it launched an experimental version of its search engine called the “search generative experience,” which delivers conversational responses atop the familiar list of links. Dubbed SGE for short, it’s still not widely available. However, Google plans to embed its most powerful large language model, Gemini, into SGE sometime this year. The Alphabet Inc. division also retains considerable advantages. It has more than 90% of the market and is the default search engine on Apple Inc. hardware, including iPhones, giving Google crucial critical mass. The more people who use it, the more the search engine knows and the more Google can use that data to deliver and rank results in a way people find useful. The retooling of search by both technology giants reflects a shared conviction that generative AI will fundamentally change the way people seek and receive answers online. For Microsoft, the shift is an opportunity to propel Bing forward. But the incremental gains so far make clear that buzzy AI features alone probably won’t transform it into a formidable search player. “We are at the gold rush moment when it comes to AI and search,” said Shane Greenstein, an economist and professor at Harvard Business School, who has studied the commercialization of the internet. “At the moment, I doubt AI will move the needle because, in search, you need a flywheel: the more searches you have, the better answers are. Google is the only firm who has this dynamic well-established.” Still, Greenstein said Bing, being the underdog, has more latitude to experiment. “Google has to be careful not to hurt its brand and product when it comes to testing new AI tools,” he said. “Bing can afford to take the risk. It has nothing to lose.” Microsoft is also betting that generative AI will change how advertisers allocate their search spending. The current ad model rests on costs-per-click, but AI-powered searches are getting consumers to answers faster and more directly without a litany of blue links, according to marketing chief Mehdi. “We have advertisers telling us they’re getting better outcomes as a result of our AI efforts and are deeply interested in how this works,” he said. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 10:37:05+00:00

{"BTC": [2635]}

{}

Bank of America Says These 3 Healthcare Stocks Have up to ~160% Upside Potential

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-says-3-healthcare-103705085.html

TipRanks

https://www.tipranks.com/

No matter what your preference in the stock market, the nature of the game is always going to revolve around returns. Without returns, there’s no point putting your money in the market. And few investment sectors can offer the high reward potential found in the healthcare segment, particularly biotech stocks . These research-oriented pharmaceutical firms, despite their high overhead and long lead times, always have that ‘holy grail’ waiting: a new drug or medical treatment to get approval – and when that approval comes, so do the profits. The potential in these names can often lead to powerful, triple-digit, upside for these stocks, and Bank of America analyst Jason Gerberry is pointing out 3 healthcare stocks with as much as ~160% upside potential for the coming year. By using the TipRanks database , we can also see whether the rest of the Street agrees these are stocks to own right now. Let’s take a close look. Jazz Pharmaceuticals ( JAZZ ) The first stock on our list, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, is one of the biotech firms that has reached that ‘holy grail.’ The company has both a portfolio of approved drugs on the market and an extensive pipeline of research projects, with drug candidates at various stages of the preclinical, clinical, and regulatory processes. Jazz, which has a market cap of $7.5 billion, focuses its work in the fields of neuroscience and oncology. Those two medical/therapeutic areas frequently feature conditions that are both difficult to treat and lack effective treatments; Jazz is working to correct both issues. The company’s neuroscience segment addresses issues such as sleep disorders and epileptic seizure disorders, while the oncology side is working on therapeutic medicines for hematologic malignancies as well as solid tumors. The company’s three strongest revenue-generating drugs are Xywav, Epidiolex, and Rylaze. Respectively, these are a treatment for excessive sleepiness during daytime; a cannabidiol used to treat seizures; and a treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Together, these were the key growth drivers in Jazz’s last reported quarter, 3Q23, and showed a combined year-over-year revenue increase of 24%. Story continues On the pipeline side, Jazz’s leading drug candidate is zanidatamab. This oncology drug candidate is undergoing late-stage clinical studies for the treatment of gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, a common cancer that is also the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Data from this study is expected during 1H24. In addition, Jazz is on track to complete it rolling BLA submission for zanidatamab in the treatment of 2L BTC (biliary tract cancers) during the first quarter of this year. This company’s combination of a research pipeline with approved drugs on the market makes Jazz unusual for a biotech firm in an important respect: the company is net-profitable. In the last reported quarter, 3Q23, Jazz showed a total top line revenue figure of $972 million. This was up 3.3% year-over-year and came in $2.8 million better than had been expected. The company’s non-GAAP bottom line, the EPS of $4.84, was down from the $5.17 reported in the prior-year quarter, and missed the forecast by 9 cents per share. In covering this stock for Bank of America, Jason Gerberry notes that Jazz shares have been underperforming, giving investors and opportunity to buy in at a discount. He writes, “In 2023, JAZZ was an underperformer (-23% vs +5% DRG) largely due to the emergence of competition to Jazz’s oyxbate business and no offsetting pipeline updates. Heading into 2024, we believe it will be important for Jazz to demonstrate sustained growth of its longer-duration assets (Xywav-IH, Epidiolex, Rylaze), generate some pipeline success and consummate a high-quality business development transaction. At Jazz’s current ’24 P/E and EV/EBITDA multiples both <7x, we believe the stock trades at floor value and we see risk/reward meaningfully skewed to the upside.” Gerberry complements his commentary with a Buy rating and a $184 price target that suggests a one-year upside potential of 56%. (To watch Gerberry’s track record, click here ) Overall, JAZZ has a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 13 reviews with an 11 to 2 breakdown of Buy versus Hold. The shares are trading for $117.81 and their $186.25 average target price implies the stock will gain 58% this year. (See JAZZ stock forecast ) Relay Therapeutics ( RLAY ) Next on our list of Bank of America health stock picks is Relay Therapeutics, a precision medicine firm with novel drug candidates at both the preclinical and clinical stages of the research process. The company is working on first-in-class therapeutic agents for the treatment of various intractable disease conditions, including cancers and genetic diseases. The company is pursuing the development path using its Dynamo platform. This is a drug discovery platform using novel technology and techniques, including leading-edge computational approaches, to create new drug candidates to target conditions that had previously proven resistant to treatment. Using this platform, Relay has developed a pipeline of 6 drug candidates. Amongst these, there is RLY-4008, which targets FGFR-2 altered solid tumors. Recently reported data, based on clinical studies through August 23 of last year, showed clinically significant positive responses to treatment in up to 40% of patients, with some therapeutic effects lasting as long as six months. The company has completed enrollment for a pivotal expansion cohort for continued studies. The next drug candidate of note, RLY-2608, is the potential treatment for PIK3CA mutant breast cancer. The company is expanding its study of this drug candidate, to add combination studies and to target additional types of breast cancer, such as PI3Kα-mutant, HR+, HER2- locally advanced or metastatic breast cancers, and expects to complete its early-stage studies during 2025 . Maintaining a cutting edge research and development pipeline does not come cheap – but Relay has deep pockets. In its last quarterly update, the company extended its cash runway by up to 1 year, stating that it has cash and cash equivalents of $810.6 million, enough to fund its ‘current operating plan’ as far forward as 2H26. When we turn to analyst Gerberry’s stance, we find him bullish on future studies of both leading programs. Gerberry writes of Relay, “In 2023, Relay (RLAY) underperformed biotech peers (-26% vs +8%) as initial clinical data of RLY-2608 (PIK3CAi; value driver) in 2L+ metastatic breast cancer (mBC) came in below Street’s expectation. Nonetheless, RLAY continues to progress two lead programs (PIK3CAi, FGFR2i) through dose expansion trials and expects to provide clinical data updates for both in 2024. Trading at $400-500m EV, we believe the Street is mainly giving RLAY credit on cash and FGFR2i while expectations for PIK3CAi (RLY-2608) are relatively low even though ‘2608 targets a much larger commercial opportunity. In 2024, we see ‘2608 updates as key to stock upside.” These comments support the analyst’s Buy rating here, and his $27 price target indicates his confidence in a one-year upside of a hefty 159% for the stock. The Strong Buy consensus rating on RLAY is unanimous, based on 6 positive analyst reviews. The shares have a current trading price of $10.42 and an average target price of $23.80; together, these imply a 128% gain in the coming year. (See Relay stock forecast ) Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals ( ARWR ) We’ll wrap up this list with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, a biotech that is working with the RNAi mechanism, or RNA interference, to develop treatments for diseases that are rare and/or intractable and have resisted treatment. Arrowhead has created various therapeutic agents suitable for delivery through the RNAi-based mode that will target specific genes involved in the disease expression. The company’s approach is based on the ubiquity of the RNAi mechanism. The process is part of all living cells, and naturally inhibits the expression of specific genes, resulting in alteration or prevention of protein production. RNAi is a highly specific mechanism, which makes it uniquely suited for use in the treatment of genetic diseases; the delivery mechanism is precisely targeted, and takes the therapeutic agent to the exact location where it is needed. Arrowhead is another biopharma with a proprietary platform. The company uses its TRiM platform (Targeted RNAi Molecule) to create a ligand-mediated delivery with precise, tissue-specific targeting carrying a structurally simple therapeutic agent. Building on this platform, Arrowhead has set up a pipeline that features multiple drug candidates, and has targeted a wide range of conditions, including various liver diseases, gout, hepatitis, myotonic dystrophy; in all, the company has 16 active research tracks. The company’s more advanced research tracks include two drug candidates with recent updates, plozasiran and zodasiran. These new therapeutic agents are under investigation as treatments for hypertriglyceridemia and dyslipidemia. These are both conditions related to cholesterol levels in the blood, and can lead to cardiovascular complications. In recent data releases, the company showed significant progress for each drug candidate. To support an NDA (new drug application), the company expects to report Phase 3 FCS topline data for plozasiran in Q2. In his coverage of this stock, BoA’s Gerberry outlines a path forward, and explains why he believes investors should buy in now: “In 2023, ARWR was an underperformer (-24% vs +8% XBI) due to cash runway concerns and lack of meaningful (step-up) de-risking catalysts. However, in ’23, we believe Arrowhead took key steps to advance its extra-hepatic siRNA platform with ARO-RAGE pulmonary program hitting chronic safety tox and target knockdown milestones. We are buy-rated on ARWR as we believe the company has favorable risk/reward into 2024 that includes catalysts for cardiovascular and respiratory programs…” Gerberry goes on to rate the shares as a Buy, and he gives the stock a price target of $51 to imply a one-year upside of 50%. Arrowhead gets a Moderate Buy consensus rating, based on 10 Wall Street reviews that favor the Buys over Holds by 7 to 3. The shares are priced at $34.06 and the $50.22 average price target suggests the stock will appreciate by 47% by the end of the year. (See Arrowhead stock forecast ) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy , a tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

2024-01-18 10:38:14+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [133, 932, 1301]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin's stunning comeback means crypto's total market cap has doubled since the FTX fiasco

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoins-stunning-comeback-means-cryptos-103814655.html

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Michael M Santiago/Getty Images Crypto's total market capitalization has doubled since FTX collapsed. Bitcoin's surge has powered the sector higher, but tokens like ether have also racked up huge gains. Digital assets are still trading well below the $3 trillion valuation they hit at their peak in November 2021. Cryptocurrencies' total market capitalization has doubled since FTX's stunning collapse 14 months ago, with bitcoin 's surge higher powering the surprise recovery. Data from TradingView shows the overall valuation of the digital-currency sector has climbed from about $740 billion in November 2022 to over $1.6 trillion, in an unexpected comeback that's drawn big-name asset managers into the space and inspired longtime bulls to start throwing out lofty price predictions once again. Total digital-currency market capitalization has rebounded from the 'crypto-winter' lows. TradingView Bitcoin has led crypto's charge higher. Its market cap has swelled from $400 billion to $840 billion since FTX failed, per CoinMarketCap , thanks to investor excitement surrounding the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of spot ETFs. After months of speculation, the financial watchdog waved through 11 funds tracking the token's price last week. Read more: Bitcoin ETFs just won the SEC's approval. Here's everything you need to know about the watchdog's groundbreaking decision. But other coins have also contributed to the rebound. The market cap of ether , the native token of the ethereum blockchain, has jumped from $150 billion to $300 billion over the past 14 months, per CoinMarketCap , with BlackRock seeking the SEC's approval for a spot ether ETF. Solana 's has climbed from $5 billion to $43 billion over the same period. The cryptocurrencies are still trading well below their late-2021 peaks, when the digital-asset space was valued at a record $3 trillion . Token prices slumped the following year after the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates in a bid to tame red-hot inflation, and the shocking implosion of onetime billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried's business empire in November 2022 gave the industry another kick in the teeth. Read the original article on Business Insider

2024-01-18 10:45:47+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [135, 272, 668, 967]}

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Singapore Says No to Retail Crypto ETFs

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-says-no-retail-crypto-104547281.html

CoinMarketCap

https://coinmarketcap.com/

Singapore Says No to Retail Crypto ETFs The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it will not allow the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs for retail investors in the country. In a statement, the MAS said that under Singapore's regulations, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not considered eligible assets for retail ETFs. The financial authority cited concerns over the high volatility and speculative nature of cryptocurrencies. "Cryptocurrency trading is highly volatile and speculative in nature and is not suitable for retail investors," the MAS statement read. However, the regulator noted that retail investors can still invest in overseas-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs through licensed capital market intermediaries in Singapore. These intermediaries are required to provide adequate risk disclosures to clients and assess suitability before allowing cryptocurrency investments. The decision contrasts with the U.S., which last week approved several spot Bitcoin ETFs from major issuers like BlackRock and Fidelity. These new ETFs saw massive trading volumes exceeding $10 billion over their first three days of trading. The MAS urged retail investors interested in overseas crypto ETFs to exercise caution, stating that cryptocurrencies remain a speculative asset class. View comments

2024-01-18 11:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [570, 1341, 1821, 1944, 3261, 4553]}

{}

Spot bitcoin ETFs draw nearly $2 billion in first three days of trading

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spot-bitcoin-etfs-draw-nearly-110000225.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Suzanne McGee Jan 18 (Reuters) - A new batch of U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has attracted strong investor interest, though it is unclear if they will be able to maintain the pace of inflows in coming weeks. Investors have poured $1.9 billion into nine new exchange-traded funds tracking the spot price of bitcoin in their first three days of trading, data from issuers and analysts showed, with fund giants BlackRock and Fidelity pulling in the lion’s share of the flows. Collective flows to the nine funds outpaced post-launch flows into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which drew a record $1.2 billion in the first three days of trading after its 2021 launch. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF attracted $1.13 billion in the first three days after its 2004 launch. Investments in the long-awaited ETFs -- launched on Jan. 11, a day after receiving approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) -- fell short of the most aggressive estimates of first-day flows in the billions of dollars. Market participants said it remained to be seen to what degree funds tracking the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency continue drawing retail and institutional investors, and which issuers will come out ahead. Some bullish analysts have said flows could reach between $50 billion and $100 billion by the end of the year. Bitcoin is down more than 8% since Jan. 11, after rallying in recent months on anticipation that the ETFs would finally get the nod from the SEC. "So far, the launches have almost measured up to the hype," said Todd Sohn, an ETF analyst at Strategas. "The next question is, What is their staying power? What will those flows look like in six months' time, or six years from now?" For now, lower fees and name recognition appear to be key factors in drawing investors. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF from asset management giant BlackRock has attracted more than $700 million, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund has topped $500 million, according to BitMEX Research, a cryptocurrency research and analysis firm. Fees among the nine issuers -- before waivers -- range from a low of 0.19% to a high of 0.39%. BlackRock is charging a fee of 0.12% for the first $5 billion in assets and the first 12 months of trading. After that, the fee will rise to 0.25%. Fidelity is initially charging zero, rising to 0.25% after July 31. Those fees will still be less than half the average ETF fee of 0.54%, as calculated by Morningstar Inc. “Fees are clearly a key determinant for success,” said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, which is providing the index against which six of the new ETFs will be measured. Story continues "Those that charge the lower management fees will unsurprisingly make themselves more appealing compared to their peers. Brand recognition is another core aspect." BITCOIN BRANDS While BlackRock and Fidelity have dominated inflows, other issuers with a strong brand among cryptocurrency aficionados aren't that far behind. Both Bitwise and a joint venture of Ark Investments and 21Shares are initially waiving fees. Bitwise said its inflows in the first three days totaled $305.5 million, while the Ark/21Shares ETF has had inflows of nearly $230 million, according to BitMEX. By contrast, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, with a fee of 1.5%, has seen outflows this month. The trust was converted into an ETF at the same time the other ETFs were launched, and has seen $1.16 billion in outflows in its first three trading days, data from BitMEX showed. Paul Karger, founder of Twin Focus, a boutique wealth management advisory firm, says some of his clients are selling their GBTC holdings and moving into the cheaper new ETFs. "We're seeing a shift from GBTC to the new, lower-cost ETFs, as well as some clients putting more money to work in the cheaper options" from brand-name issuers, he said. Representatives for Grayscale did not immediately provide comment. Speaking to Bloomberg at Davos on Wednesday, CEO Michael Sonnenshein said that while fees are a consideration, investors should also look at a product's size, liquidity and track record. The next hurdle for the funds will likely be demonstrating their ability to win acceptance by institutional investors, such as pension funds, and investment advisers. "The question of what to do with these in a portfolio has been drowned out by a lot of the noise" surrounding the new products' debut, Steve Kurz, head of asset management at Galaxy Digital, said ahead of that launch. Galaxy has partnered with Invesco to launch the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, one of the nine new spot bitcoin ETFs. The process of talking about what kind of allocation is appropriate and how spot bitcoin ETFs will "work their way into model portfolios will come into focus in the next six months,” he said. (Reporting by Suzanne McGee; additional reporting by Hannah Lang; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili, Michelle Price and Leslie Adler) View comments

2024-01-18 11:04:33+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [563, 1343, 1823, 1946, 3261, 4060, 4918]}

{}

Spot bitcoin ETFs draw nearly $2 billion in first three days of trading

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spot-bitcoin-etfs-draw-nearly-110433755.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Suzanne McGee (Reuters) - A new batch of U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has attracted strong investor interest, though it is unclear if they will be able to maintain the pace of inflows in coming weeks. Investors have poured $1.9 billion into nine new exchange-traded funds tracking the spot price of bitcoin in their first three days of trading, data from issuers and analysts showed, with fund giants BlackRock and Fidelity pulling in the lion’s share of the flows. Collective flows to the nine funds outpaced post-launch flows into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which drew a record $1.2 billion in the first three days of trading after its 2021 launch. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF attracted $1.13 billion in the first three days after its 2004 launch. Still, the investments in the long-awaited ETFs - launched on Jan. 11, a day after receiving approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - fell short of the most aggressive estimates of first-day flows in the billions of dollars. Market participants said it remained to be seen to what degree funds tracking the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency continue drawing retail and institutional investors, and which issuers will come out ahead. Some bullish analysts have said flows could reach between $50 billion and $100 billion by the end of the year. Bitcoin is down more than 8% since Jan. 11, after rallying in recent months on anticipation that the ETFs would finally get the nod from the SEC. "So far, the launches have almost measured up to the hype," said Todd Sohn, an ETF analyst at Strategas. "The next question is: What is their staying power? What will those flows look like in six months' time, or six years from now?" For now, lower fees and name recognition appear to be key factors in drawing investors. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF from asset management giant BlackRock has attracted more than $700 million, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund has topped $500 million, according to BitMEX Research, a cryptocurrency research and analysis firm. Story continues Fees among the nine issuers - before waivers - range from a low of 0.19% to a high of 0.39%. BlackRock is charging a fee of 0.12% for the first $5 billion in assets and the first 12 months of trading. After that, the fee will rise to 0.25%. Fidelity is initially charging zero, rising to 0.25% after July 31. Those fees will still be less than half the average ETF fee of 0.54%, as calculated by Morningstar Inc. “Fees are clearly a key determinant for success,” said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, which is providing the index against which six of the new ETFs will be measured. "Those that charge the lower management fees will unsurprisingly make themselves more appealing compared to their peers. Brand recognition is another core aspect." BITCOIN BRANDS While BlackRock and Fidelity have dominated inflows, other issuers with a strong brand among cryptocurrency aficionados aren't that far behind. Both Bitwise and a joint venture of Ark Investments and 21Shares are initially waiving fees. Bitwise said its inflows in the first three days totaled $305.5 million, while the Ark/21Shares ETF has had inflows of nearly $230 million, according to BitMEX. By contrast, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), with a fee of 1.5%, has seen outflows this month. The trust was converted into an ETF at the same time the other ETFs were launched, and has seen $1.16 billion in outflows in its first three trading days, data from BitMEX showed. Paul Karger, founder of TwinFocus, a boutique wealth management advisory firm, says some of his clients are selling their GBTC holdings and moving into the cheaper new ETFs. "We're seeing a shift from GBTC to the new, lower-cost ETFs, as well as some clients putting more money to work in the cheaper options" from brand-name issuers, he said. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein pointed out that unlike the newly launched products, Grayscale already had substantial assets at the time of its conversion, allowing investors to lock in profits after Bitcoin’s run. The firm’s fees, meanwhile, “reflect a certain value that it brings to the market and to investors,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Grayscale “has a 10-year track record. It has 20-some-odd billion dollars of AUM (assets under management), a diversified shareholder base, tight spreads, and unbelievable liquidity,” Sonnenshein said. The next hurdle for the funds will likely be demonstrating their ability to win acceptance among institutional investors, such as pension funds, and investment advisers. "The question of what to do with these in a portfolio has been drowned out by a lot of the noise" surrounding the new products' debut, Steve Kurz, head of asset management at Galaxy Digital, said ahead of last week's launch of its ETF. Galaxy has partnered with Invesco to launch the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, one of the nine new spot bitcoin ETFs. The process of talking about what kind of allocation is appropriate and how spot bitcoin ETFs will "work their way into model portfolios will come into focus in the next six months,” he said. (This story has been refiled to fix the formatting of TwinFocus in paragraph 16) (Reporting by Suzanne McGee Additional reporting by Hannah Lang and Megan Davies; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili, Michelle Price and Leslie Adler)

2024-01-18 11:09:42+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5114]}

{}

Hedge Fund Fermat Has Best Year Ever as ‘Cat Bond’ Bets Soar

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fund-fermat-best-ever-200000866.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Fermat Capital Management just had the best year in its more than two-decade history, after outsize bets on catastrophe bonds delivered record results. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ The hedge fund’s returns were “in line” with the 20% gain in the Swiss Re Global Cat Bond Performance Index, according to Brett Houghton, a managing director at Fermat, which looks after about $10.8 billion of assets. For cat bond investors, 2023 “was a unicorn year where you have great returns and equilibrium in the market,” Houghton said in an interview. There was “strong investor interest and the need for the insurance market to issue more and more cat bonds,” he said. Fermat is the world’s biggest investor in so-called cat bonds, with stakes in 80% of the roughly 280 securities outstanding in the market. The bonds, which typically have maturities of three to five years, are increasingly popular with issuers looking for ways to cover uninsurable risks. Investors stand to get market-beating returns, in exchange for taking on the risk of losing some or all of their capital if catastrophe hits. “The size of the market has increased, but it hasn’t increased enough to fill the need for potential events,” Houghton said. Climate change has been driving growth in the cat bond market, as insurers start to retreat from loss probabilities too great to bear in the face of increasingly extreme weather patterns. And Houghton notes that inflation has added about 25% to the cost of rebuilding after a disaster, which also is leading to greater issuance of cat bonds to fill the gap. Last year alone, natural disasters led to $250 billion of global losses, of which only $95 billion were insured, according to Munich Re. Aside from large-scale hurricanes and other remote disasters, there’s growing industry interest in cat bonds that seek to capture the risk-reward calculus of so-called secondary perils — hailstorms, tornadoes and floods — which are generating an ever-higher level of losses for insurers. But many investors remain wary because the data and models underpinning such risks aren’t yet robust enough. “We find some secondary perils to be attractive and some not,” said Houghton. “They can help diversify your portfolio but they also come with uncertainty. There’s less R&D that goes into those models.” Story continues Other high-risk scenarios that cat bonds are being used to address include cyberattacks. Fermat has already started investing in such securities, and expects to increase its exposure, he said. “The exposure of cyber losses is potentially in the same magnitude range as a Category 4 or 5 hurricane hitting Miami,” he said. “We’ve identified that part of the market as a major area of growth over the next five to 10 years.” Investor interest in the securities is growing, and asset managers in cat bonds now include Schroders Plc, Leadenhall Capital Partners, Neuberger Berman and Blackstone Inc., which invested in the high-yield instruments to shield property assets from natural-disaster losses. Fermat was founded in 2001 by John Seo, a physicist by training, and his brother Nelson. Right from the start, the firm focused entirely on catastrophe bonds, then a niche and poorly-understood form of alternative fixed-income investing. A key observation by Seo was that as more people moved to Florida, California and other places prone to natural catastrophes, the insurance industry would want to pass on a chunk of its growing risk to Wall Street. Harnessing his background in physics, Seo then developed a more precise model than had previously existed to efficiently price the risk associated with extremely rare events, such as a devastating hurricane. Houghton, who says he’s known Seo for about 25 years, describes him as someone who possesses the requisite “enthusiasm” to enable him to “understand everything” there is to know about risk. Last year’s gains in the cat bond market were buoyed by the fact that the hurricane season was milder than in 2022, meaning bondholders had to cover fewer losses. The final quarter of 2023 saw $5.6 billion in new cat bond issuance, including private deals, taking full-year deal volumes to an all-time high of $16.4 billion, according to Artemis, a firm that tracks the cat bond and insurance-linked securities market. Those deals brought the total outstanding market to a record $45 billion, it estimates. “And 2024 promises to be another interesting year for investors in terms of attractive returns,” Houghton said. --With assistance from Nishant Kumar. (Adds context around Fermat’s origins in fifth- and fourth-last paragraphs.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 11:40:00+00:00

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Bitcoin to $100,000 or Shiba Inu to $0.01: What's More Likely to Happen in 2024?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-100-000-shiba-inu-114000654.html

Motley Fool

http://www.fool.com/

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has risen by around 60% in just the past three months. Hype and excitement ahead of the approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has resulted in investors becoming incredibly bullish on crypto of late. At more than $40,000, the digital currency is now trading around the levels it was at two years ago. There's hope that it could hit the $100,000 mark. Another popular coin, Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) also has the potential to rise given the overall excitement around crypto these days. In the past, it has been a popular meme coin, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has often tweeted about it. Shiba Inu has been rising in value recently, and given its low token price -- around $0.0000096 on Tuesday -- getting to $0.01 would be a massive return for investors. Which scenario looks more probable for 2024: Bitcoin getting to $100,000, or Shiba Inu rising to a value of $0.01? Bitcoin has been falling but there's another catalyst that could be coming In what could just be the latest example of investors and speculators buying the rumor and selling the news, Bitcoin's value has been falling in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of the first spot Bitcoin ETFs. On Jan. 10, the regulator approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, but the value of the digital currency dipped to less than $42,000 by Jan. 13. Bitcoin has rallied since then but it definitely doesn't look to be skyrocketing on the news. Over time, however, the momentum may build back up if the approval of the ETF has the desired effect -- getting a significantly larger number of more risk-averse investors and crypto novices to put Bitcoin into their portfolios. That's not something that investors should expect to happen overnight. There's another catalyst that could help Bitcoin's value rise even further. Every four years or so, the rewards for validating each block of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain (i.e., mining) are cut in half. These "halving" events, which are built into the Bitcoin protocol, reduce the rate of token supply growth. The next halving is expected to take place in April. Story continues Prior halvings have been followed by surges in Bitcoin's price. Combine that with the possibility of more investors buying crypto due to spot Bitcoin ETFs now being available, and there could be an even stronger rally this time around. Is Shiba Inu getting to $0.01 too big of a dream? Shiba Inu isn't nearly as popular as Bitcoin is, but as investors learned a few years ago, everyone loves a good underdog. And with the help of meme investors, Shiba Inu has the potential to rally as more people learn about crypto. While the spot Bitcoin ETFs could make it easier for some people to invest in Bitcoin, they may also lead them to get more interested in other cryptocurrencies. Growth investors looking for the next big opportunity may be concerned that Bitcoin, which has a market cap of $840 billion, may simply be too expensive. A smaller coin such as Shiba Inu, which has the potential to captivate meme investors, could be seen as possessing more potential upside. At around $5.7 billion, its market cap is much smaller than Bitcoin's. The big question, however, is whether $0.01 is simply too high of a target for the coin to reach. For it to get to $0.01, Shibu Inu's price would need to grow by about 1,100 times. By comparison, Bitcoin would need to grow by 2.5 times to get to $100,000. And if Shiba Inu achieved such a gain, its market cap would be $5.9 trillion , giving it a higher market cap than Bitcoin. Bitcoin getting to $100,000 is much more probable Bitcoin is already the larger and more popular coin, and there are no compelling reasons to believe Shiba Inu could skyrocket past it. It might go along for the ride with other cryptocurrencies as they increase in value, but it's highly unlikely that Shiba Inu will lead the charge. There are now thousands of cryptocurrencies to choose from and the benefit Bitcoin has is that it has become synonymous with crypto and it's the most popular coin. If someone is going to invest in crypto, it'll likely be with Bitcoin. Bitcoin may not reach $100,000 this year, but that outcome is much more probable than Shiba Inu getting anywhere near $0.01. Crypto remains risky, but Bitcoin is the safest option compared to all other coins. Should you invest $1,000 in Bitcoin right now? Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than tripled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of January 8, 2024 David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Bitcoin to $100,000 or Shiba Inu to $0.01: What's More Likely to Happen in 2024? was originally published by The Motley Fool

2024-01-18 11:41:38+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3410]}

{}

After Debt Revamp, Ghana Faces Pre-Election Spending Dilemma

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/debt-revamp-ghana-faces-pre-114138178.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- As Ghana’s debt-restructuring talks approach their final stretch, the country’s leaders are facing a new dilemma. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ The government needs to prove to investors that it can keep spending in check as it navigates a debt revamp, following a 2022 default on some $20 billion worth of international bonds and loans. But the ruling party also faces an election this December, pressuring it to up spending on things voters care about. That’s leading some investors to fret the election will set Ghana back onto the slippery slope of wider budget deficits, potentially harming the debt restructuring progress. “I’ve been covering Ghana since 2012, and in each election since then, the office bearer has overspent as the margin for victory between the two contesting parties is generally small,” said Carmen Altenkirch, an emerging market sovereign analyst at Aviva Investors Global Services Ltd. “The thing is, if Ghana wants to re-access the Eurobond market, at some point they really have to rebuild trust with investors. And that comes from holding the line on fiscal consolidation.” Ghana has always overshot its expenditure budget in election years, World Bank data shows, with the overspending particularly pronounced during the ruling party’s second term. In the run-up to the 2020 vote for instance, the budget deficit blew out to 11.4%, versus the targeted 4.7%. Currently, the New Patriotic Party, headed by 60 year-old economist Mahamudu Bawumia, is pushing for a third term. The opposition National Democratic Congress is headed by former President John Mahama. Ghana halted payments on most of its overseas debt just over a year ago amid a surge in repayment costs. It recently struck a deal with bilateral creditors, including China, to rework $5.4 billion of loans. But the government is still negotiating with commercial creditors, proposing a principal reduction of as much as 40% in October for this group, which includes holders of $13 billion of international bonds. Story continues Ghanaian dollar bonds have rallied since the bilateral agreement, with year-to-date returns of 1.1%. That contrasts with an average 1.6% decline in a Bloomberg index of emerging and frontier-market bonds. Resisting the temptation to overspend could add momentum to bringing the debt restructuring program to a successful end, Altenkirch said. Ghana’s debt restructuring process could face another complication, should the World Bank downgrade the country’s income classification level, according to Charles Robertson, head of macro strategy at FIM Partners. That would imply an even bigger haircut for bondholders, potentially delaying negotiations further, he said. Meanwhile an election win for Mahama’s NDC may not be entirely positive either, Robertson said, noting that “the opposition party also had a problematic record in power, running up high debt levels from 2008-2016.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 12:14:31+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1921]}

{}

Oil Squeeze of 2023 Turns to Surplus in Warning for Market Bulls

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-squeeze-2023-turns-surplus-121431198.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The oil supply squeeze widely expected at the end of last year now looks like it may have been a surplus — a reminder for any remaining crude bulls to tread carefully. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ A year ago, crude traders and forecasters anticipated that the fourth quarter would be the strongest point of 2023, with China’s post-pandemic demand recovery pushing prices up to $100 a barrel. More recently, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been predicting a record deficit of 3 million barrels a day. Yet instead of rallying, oil prices slumped almost 20% in the final three months of the year, and despite turmoil in the Middle East, currently remain below $80 a barrel. The latest oil-market balances published on Thursday help explain why. The International Energy Agency in Paris — which a year ago projected a shortfall of 2 million barrels a day for the period — estimates that stockpiles actually swelled by 560,000 barrels a day as US production soared. The reversal should serve as a caution for traders still banking on a price recovery. OPEC, for example, continues to forecast that global oil markets will remain in a considerable deficit for the rest of this year and through 2025. The cartel’s forecast for demand growth this year is almost double that of the IEA — though its ever-deeper production cuts could be seen as an insurance policy in case those numbers miss the mark. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 12:36:40+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2213]}

{}

Moelis Warns Economy Could Slow With Consumer ‘Out of Gas’

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moelis-warns-economy-could-slow-123640921.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Ken Moelis warned US economic growth could slow as consumers grapple with dwindling savings and the impact of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive moves to raise interest rates in recent months. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 Sharp declines in consumer spending would encourage the Fed to begin cutting rates, which could help spur a rebound in dealmaking activity this year, according to Moelis, who’s chief executive officer of his eponymous advisory firm Moelis & Co. “Last year, I was hearing everybody talking about a recession and we didn’t have one because it takes a while,” Moelis said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua at the World Economic Forum. “It takes a while for 5% interest rates to slow the economy down. I do think the consumer might be out of gas.” Moelis’s firm has been expanding in recent months as it hired bankers dismissed by other firms during a persistent slump in dealmaking activity. Moelis said the revival in merger-and-acquisition activity is likely to come largely from the vast sums held by private equity firms, particularly those eyeing opportunities in technology and health-care. Buyout firms are sitting on a record $2.5 trillion in dry powder, though managers have found it hard to do deals in recent months amid heightened central bank activity. Roughly six years ago, Moelis predicted he would hand the reins of his namesake firm to someone else by the time he turned 65. The seasoned banker surpassed that age last year, though he said he’s not planning to depart his role anytime soon. “I enjoy everything I do,” Moelis said. “I think I’m still contributing, I’m enjoying it. And 65 doesn’t seem as old as it used to seem.” Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 13:00:18+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1582, 2756, 2927]}

{"Bitcoin": [47]}

Consider a Blockchain ETF as an Alternative to Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/consider-blockchain-etf-alternative-bitcoin-130018898.html

GuruFocus.com

http://www.gurufocus.com/

As a portfolio manager with an active investment strategy, I always found investing in exchange-traded funds somewhat unexciting. On the other side of the aisle was crypto, which is not for the faint of heart and not an asset class that I wanted to include in my investment portfolio. It was when I was doing research on the blockchain segment of the market that I stumbled upon an exotic ETF, different from any other currently available and I added it to my portfolio almost right away. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with CROX. Blockchain technology is complex and has a wide array of use cases, but it can be best defined as an immutable shared ledger that allows transparent processing of transactions (data, information, assets, etc.) on a business network. Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF ( BLOK ) is an ETF that invests in this specific niche, blockchain. With a moderate expense ratio of 0.75% , a dividend yield of 1.20% per annum and an average price-earnings ratio of its holdings of 12.85, the ETF is an attractive position to own in a portfolio to have exposure to blockchain. The total addressable market for blockchain by 2030 is estimated at $469.49 billion, more than 40 times times the value of the space in 2022. I believe this ETF to be an attractive medium- to long-term play. What investors are actually buying The reason I find the ETF attractive is that, despite its correlation with bitcoin, which also operates on a blockchain , it is much more diversified than one would believe. Consider a Blockchain ETF as an Alternative to Bitcoin I found it highly interesting that, when dissecting these top 15 holdings (the ETF currently holds 52 assets ), these were some of the sectors Amplify had exposure to: Crypto mining and crypto exchange Business intelligence and data analytics E-commerce Payments systems Internet infrastructure Online advertising and media The list of tech segments the ETF has exposure to can go on and on, just like the use cases of blockchain technology. For this reason, for the investors who are not overly attracted by crypto, this ETF is an excellent alternative. And even if you have crypto exposure, Amplify is about blockchain, which will further diversify away from crypto. With a relatively higher beta than the overall market (the ETF has a beta of 1.5), Amplify is an attractive play if you believe in the bullish case for bitcoin due to the halving this year and for the stock market overall with the monetary pivot by the Federal Reserve. Correlation with bitcoin and attractive valuation support my rating Despite the diversity of its holdings, Amplify has been highly correlated to bitcoin since its 2018 inception. By comparing the performance chart of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ( GBTC ), now a bitcoin ETF, we can observe the high correlation between Amplify and bitcoin. Story continues Consider a Blockchain ETF as an Alternative to Bitcoin A number of Amplify's portfolio companies derive a partial, substantial or total portion of their revenue directly or indirectly from bitcoin. Because of this indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency, the ETF could be weeks from a technical breakout in price, leading to a new all-time high somewhere in the fourth quarter of 2025. Indeed, a price gap has formed since November, as we can observe in the chart, and a technical catch-up cannot be excluded. Furthermore, Amplify is also intrinsically undervalued. The Nasdaq, a tech-heavy U.S. index, has as of Jan. 12 a price-earnings ratio of 25.30 . Amplify, on the other hand, has a price-earnings ratio of 12.85, approximately half price relative to the index. Holding the ETF with a 2030 horizon in mind, where blockchain's addressable market value is estimated to be 40 times the 2022 value, is an attractive long-term play given it additionally pays a 1.20% dividend yield per year. These are the reasons I have added the ETF to my portfolio and believe it is an attractively undervalued asset to own. Key risks I have identified three key risks to a long-term investment in Amplify. The first one would be the interruption of blockchain technology's adoption by the markets. In the technology sphere, a specific technology can become obsolete if a newer, more efficient and disruptive technology is invented. In my view, this is unlikely to happen given blockchain is the disruptive technology of the moment, with wide use cases and fast adoption by corporate giants such as Visa ( NYSE:V ), Mastercard ( NYSE:MA ), Alibaba ( NYSE:BABA ) and MercadoLibre ( NASDAQ:MELI ) (all four are part of the ETF's holdings). In my opinion, this risk has a low rating given how unlikely it is to occur. Another key risk is when a sector displays high growth and wide margins, other players enter the scene. New ETFs with a lower expense ratio, higher dividend yield or better performance could snap a significant portion of the 40 times growth estimated by 2030. However, given the large estimated total addressable market in 2030, Amplify's first-mover advantage and increasing brand recognition, this risk is not particularly high. In my opinion, this risk has a rating of medium, as it is difficult to mitigate. The last key risk is more of a technical nature: with its relatively high beta of 1.5, a prolonged bear market (induced for example by a macroeconomic recession) could significantly harm the position in the short term. However, if you spread your investment in the ETF over a long and regular period of time, you should be able to have an attractive price entry in this long-term hold. This risk has a rating of low, given the mitigant measure every investor can apply. Bottom line In the short term, with a beta of 1.50, Fed rate cuts approaching as inflation slowly seems to return to 2% and with the bitcoin 2024 halving, Amplify is an attractive play for any portfolio in 2024-25 thanks to its crypto exposure. For the longer term, though, it is likely that the ETF will decouple from bitcoin as the blockchain technology broadens its use cases and continues expanding to other sectors of the economy. For any investor seeking to gain exposure to this high-growth potential tech niche that is blockchain, owning Amplify is a smart move and the 1.2% dividend yield is a reward for the investors' patience in the meantime. This justifies the inclusion of this ETF in my portfolio given the long-term opportunity for a high return. This article first appeared on GuruFocus . View comments

2024-01-18 13:01:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [413, 524, 3210], "BTC": [229]}

{"Bitcoin": [42]}

First Mover Americas: dYdX Beats Uniswap, Bitcoin Outlook Dour

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-mover-americas-dydx-beats-130100428.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

This article originally appeared in First Mover , CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day . Latest Prices Top Stories Headwinds for bitcoin (BTC) continue to linger and could contribute to prices falling lower in the coming days, despite the apparent early successes of several U.S.-listed spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Bitcoin prices fell as low as 15% after the much-awaited ETF listing last week, with outflows from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust product said to contribute to the downward pressure. ETF volume data provided by BlackRock (BLK), Fidelity and Bitwise cumulatively crossed the $500 million mark earlier this week – indicating demand from regulated funds and professional traders. Coinbase (COIN), the custodian for several ETF providers, saw record-high OTC desk transfer volumes. “Several on-chain metrics and indicators still suggest the price correction may not be over or at least that a new rally is still not on the cards,” CryptoQuant analysts said. “Short-term traders and large bitcoin holders are still doing significant selling in a context of “risk-off” attitude. Decentralized exchange dYdX, which recently migrated from Ethereum to Cosmos, has replaced one of Uniswap's markets as the largest DEX by daily trading volume, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The Cosmos-based v4 version of dYdX just saw $757 million of volume over a 24-hour period, topping Uniswap v3, which had $608 million, the data shows. dYdX's v3 market, which still operates, had $567 million, enough for third place. According to dYdX, the total trade volume so far for its v4 market since launch is $17.8 billion. In 2023, dYdX's v3 saw a total of over $1 trillion in trading volume, with several days exceeding $2 billion of trading volume. Former President and front-runner in the Republican leadership race, Donald Trump, has promised to ban the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” Trump said on stage, joined by crypto-friendly former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently suspended his campaign. “This would be a dangerous threat to freedom, and I will stop it from coming to America,” Trump continued. “Such a currency would give a federal government absolute control over your money. They could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone.” Chart of The Day The chart shows the S&P 500 in inflation-adjusted terms, the spread between U.S. 10 and two-year Treasury bond yields, and the Fed funds rate (the benchmark borrowing cost) since 1999. Fed's pivot to rate cuts or renewed liquidity easing typically comes from the point of economic weakness, coinciding with a bearish trend reversal and a sell-off in the S&P 500, as observed in 2000, 2008, and late 2019. The market expects the Fed to cut rates by over 100 basis points this year. Source: ByteTree Research, Bloomberg Story continues - Omkar Godbole Trending Posts Sui Teams Up With Oracle Stork to Provide Builders With Fast Pricing Data Investment Firm With $1B Assets Looks to Invest in Bitcoin Mining With Fabiano Consulting TrueUSD Wobbles Towards $1 Peg Amid Reported Redemption Issues View comments

2024-01-18 13:29:15+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2194]}

{}

Deep Freeze Forces US LNG Exporters to Cancel, Delay Cargoes

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-deep-freeze-force-lng-043103878.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The recent freeze across Texas and Louisiana disrupted scheduled exports of US liquefied natural gas, temporarily tightening some supply of the heating and power-plant fuel. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Dimon Says China Risk-Reward Equation Has ‘Changed Dramatically’ Singapore Minister Quits After Biggest Graft Case Since 1986 The Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana canceled at least one scheduled shipment, according to people familiar with the matter. Several other planned deliveries from Cameron and Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi facility in Texas were also delayed, they said. The Freeport LNG terminal in Texas on Tuesday briefly brought down and restarted one of its three production units, according to a state regulatory filing. Freeport LNG’s loading schedule was also disrupted this week as a result of the weather, according to people familiar with the matter. Export disruptions will likely be short-lived, with warmer weather expected next week. Milder-than-normal temperatures are forecast across most of the US from Jan. 23 to 27, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The global market impact should also be limited given that gas inventories across Europe and Asia remain high, with the end of winter on the horizon. European gas futures fell to a five-month low on Wednesday. Frigid weather in the US closed ports and reduced domestic gas production, forcing LNG exporters to rearrange schedules for customers. Pipeline gas flows to liquefaction facilities on Wednesday were 45% lower than a week earlier. Cameron LNG did not respond for comment. A spokesperson declined to comment on the plant operations earlier this week. Spokespeople for Cheniere and Freeport also declined to comment. (Updates with Freeport LNG in third paragraph) Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 13:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [369, 2110, 4352, 4426, 4493, 4592, 4630, 4644, 4800, 4983, 5072, 5260, 5763, 6099, 6362, 6458]}

{"Bitcoin": [31]}

Roundhill Investments Launches Bitcoin Covered Call ETF (YBTC)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/roundhill-investments-launches-bitcoin-covered-133000181.html

PR Newswire

https://www.prnewswire.com/

YBTC is the first U.S. ETF to implement a covered call strategy on bitcoin *, allowing investors to participate in upside exposure to bitcoin * while potentially generating monthly options income. NEW YORK , Jan. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Roundhill Investments, an ETF sponsor focused on innovative financial products, is pleased to announce the launch of the Roundhill Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC), which begins trading on Cboe BZX today. YBTC is the first bitcoin covered call strategy ETF to list in the U.S. Roundhill Investments (PRNewsfoto/Roundhill Investments) YBTC seeks to offer investors exposure to bitcoin *, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The Fund employs a covered call strategy on bitcoin ETFs, designed to generate monthly income while providing investors with exposure to the price movements of bitcoin (subject to an upside cap). Historically, bitcoin has exhibited significant volatility, which may allow for the Fund to generate significant options income from its call selling strategy. In turn, the Fund seeks to provide current income to shareholders. Similar to gold, bitcoin stands out as an asset that does not yield operating profits or cash flows, presenting a unique challenge for income-focused investors. Traditionally, this gap has led to the popularity of on-chain strategies such as staking for crypto assets like Ether. Meanwhile, YBTC overlays a covered call strategy on bitcoin to allow for investors to retain upside to bitcoin while addressing needs for current income. "YBTC offers investors an attractive blend of high income potential and exposure to bitcoin ," said Dave Mazza , Chief Strategy Officer at Roundhill Investments. "Investors have clamored for a covered call ETF with exposure to bitcoin and we are proud to be the first to bring such a product to the U.S. market." YBTC seeks to pay distributions, if any, on a monthly basis. * The fund does not invest in bitcoin directly; it seeks to provide exposure to the price return of an exchange-traded fund that invests principally in bitcoin futures contracts (the " Bitcoin Futures ETF"). The fund is not suitable for all investors and involves a high degree of risk. About Roundhill Investments: Roundhill Investments is a registered investment adviser focused on offering innovative financial products designed to offer exposure to investment themes that appeal to the next generation of investors. To learn more about the company, please visit roundhillinvestments.com. Investors should consider the investment objectives, risk, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about the ETF please call 1-877-220-7649 or visit the website at https:// www.roundhillinvestments.com/etf/ . Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing. All investing involves risk, including the risk of loss of principal. There is no guarantee the investment strategy will be successful. The fund faces numerous risks, including options risk, liquidity risk, market risk, cost of futures investment risk, clearing broker risk, commodity regulatory risk, futures contract risk, active management risk, active market risk, clearing broker risk, credit risk, derivatives risk, legislation and litigation risk, operational risk, trading issues risk, valuation risk and non-diversification risk. For a detailed list of fund risks see the prospectus. Story continues Covered Call Strategy Risk. A covered call strategy involves writing (selling) covered call options in return for the receipt of premiums. The seller of the option gives up the opportunity to benefit from price increases in the underlying instrument above the exercise price of the options, but continues to bear the risk of underlying instrument price declines. The premiums received from the options may not be sufficient to offset any losses sustained from underlying instrument price declines, over time. As a result, the risks associated with writing covered call options may be similar to the risks associated with writing put options. Exchanges may suspend the trading of options during periods of abnormal market volatility. Suspension of trading may mean that an option seller is unable to sell options at a time that may be desirable or advantageous to do. Bitcoin Futures ETF Risks. The Fund will have significant exposure to the Bitcoin Futures ETF through its options positions that utilize the Bitcoin Futures ETF as the reference asset. Accordingly, the Fund will subject to the risks of the Bitcoin Futures ETF, set forth below. Bitcoin Risk. Bitcoin is a relatively new innovation and the market for bitcoin is subject to rapid price swings, changes and uncertainty. The further development of the Bitcoin network and the acceptance and use of bitcoin are subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to evaluate. The slowing, stopping or reversing of the development of the Bitcoin network or the acceptance of bitcoin may adversely affect the price of bitcoin . Bitcoin is subject to the risk of fraud , theft, manipulation or security failures, operational or other problems that impact the digital asset trading venues on which bitcoin trades. The Bitcoin blockchain may contain flaws that can be exploited by hackers. A significant portion of bitcoin is held by a small number of holders sometimes referred to as "whales." Transactions of these holders may influence the price of bitcoin . Digital Asset Industry Risk. The digital asset industry is a new, speculative, and still-developing industry that faces many risks. In this emerging environment, events that are not directly related to the security or utility of the Ethereum blockchain or the Bitcoin blockchain can nonetheless precipitate a significant decline in the price of ether and bitcoin . Digital Asset Regulatory Risk. Digital asset markets in the U.S. exist in a state of regulatory uncertainty, and adverse legislative or regulatory developments could significantly harm the value of bitcoin futures contracts or the Bitcoin Futures ETF's share, such as by banning, restricting or imposing onerous conditions or prohibitions on the use of bitcoin , mining activity, digital wallets, the provision of services related to trading and custodying digital assets, the operation of the Bitcoin network, or the digital asset markets generally. Such occurrences could also impair the Bitcoin Futures ETF's ability to meet its investment objective pursuant to its investment strategy. Flex Options Risk. The Fund will utilize FLEX Options issued and guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). In the unlikely event that the OCC becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to meet its settlement obligations, the Fund could suffer significant losses. Additionally, FLEX Options may be less liquid than standard options. In a less liquid market for the FLEX Options, the Fund may have difficulty closing out certain FLEX Options positions at desired times and prices. The values of FLEX Options do not increase or decrease at the same rate as the reference asset and may vary due to factors other than the price of reference asset. New Fund Risk. The fund is new and has a limited operating history. Roundhill Financial Inc. serves as the investment advisor. The Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC which is not affiliated with Roundhill Financial Inc., U.S. Bank, or any of their affiliates. Glossary Options An option is a contract sold by one party to another that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) a stock at an agreed upon price within a certain period or on a specific date. Covered Call Strategy A covered call strategy involves writing (selling) covered call options in return for the receipt of premiums. The seller of the option gives up the opportunity to benefit from price increases in the underlying instrument above the exercise price of the options, but continues to bear the risk of underlying instrument price declines. Cision View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/roundhill-investments-launches-bitcoin-covered-call-etf-ybtc-302037471.html SOURCE Roundhill Investments View comments

2024-01-18 13:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [508, 674, 715, 870, 1457, 1796, 1886, 2098, 2234, 2398, 2546, 2610, 2711, 2937]}

{}

Hottest ETF Trend of 2023 Is Coming to the Crypto Market

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hottest-etf-trend-2023-coming-133000829.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- One of 2023’s most popular strategies in the $8 trillion exchange-traded fund industry is coming to the crypto market. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The Roundhill Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF begins trading on Thursday under the ticker YBTC, according to a press release. The actively managed fund tracks the performance of Bitcoin via the futures-backed ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), on which it will also sell out-of-the-money calls. That process generates additional income in exchange for giving up some of Bitcoin’s upside exposure, risking underperformance to the cryptocurrency itself. Covered call strategies were popularized in the ETF arena by the explosive growth of the $31 billion JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI), which invests in low-volatility stocks and employs a call-writing strategy. JEPI became the largest actively managed ETF last year as investors — rattled by the Federal Reserve raising interest rates — sought shelter in the fund’s reliable payouts. Roundhill is attempting to replicate that success among crypto investors as well. Read more: What Are These New Bitcoin ETFs and How Do They Work?: QuickTake “The fund should exist because it combines two opportunities. One is the opportunity to participate in an exciting new asset class, and two, it provides the potential for stable income generation,” said David Mazza, chief strategy officer at Roundhill Financial. “If the implied volatility of Bitcoin is high, then income generation is expected to be high.” YBTC debuts as the first Bitcoin covered call strategy to launch in the ETF wrapper. Grayscale Investments applied for a covered call ETF last week, a day after the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. The fund “seeks to provide and deliver current income while also providing participation in the price return of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust,” according to the filing. Story continues While YBTC may appeal to the more cautious crypto-curious investor, the fact that it creates a “yield” for Bitcoin should also tempt the pure-play crypto crowd, Mazza said. While tokens such as Ether generate payouts through a mechanism known as staking, Bitcoin doesn’t have that process. “You can’t earn a yield from Bitcoin, it doesn’t have staking. This ETF does that for you,” Mazza said. “You maintain exposure to Bitcoin, but you get that income potential.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 13:36:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4736]}

{}

Bayer Moves Away From Breakup Despite Investor Pressure

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bayer-moves-away-breakup-despite-113522519.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Bayer AG is leaning against breaking up the conglomerate, rejecting pleas from investors frustrated by the company’s ongoing struggle to recover from its costly purchase of Monsanto, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap Chief Executive Officer Bill Anderson and other Bayer leaders are skeptical that this year is the right time to make a major change to the business model, said the people, who discussed the private information on condition of anonymity. Ahead of a strategy briefing scheduled for March 5, the company has been studying options for months that included a potential separation of its consumer-health or crops-science divisions. For now, Bayer executives would rather focus on implementing a new operational model, announced late Wednesday, and push a possible structural change to a later date, the people said. Shares dropped as much as 3.5% on the news, bringing the loss this year to about 4.6%. A spokesman for Bayer declined to comment. Investors have been waiting months for Anderson to lay out his plans for the company and are likely to grill him at the company’s upcoming capital markets day. Bayer’s three-legged business model — which also includes a pharma division — has drawn the ire of several investors for years, who complain that the divisions don’t belong together and there would be more value created by splitting them up. Read more: Bayer’s New CEO to Cut Management Jobs in Bid for Turnaround But an avalanche of US litigation over former Monsanto products, especially the weedkiller Roundup, make a breakup difficult. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs are still suing Bayer over the product, saying it caused their cancer. Bayer insists the product is safe. Bayer has pledged to spend as much as $16 billion to put the Roundup suits behind it, but it’s still failed to put a lid on the situation. Meanwhile, slumping commodity prices and poor operational performance have put additional pressure on the crops division. Story continues Several investors have also called for Bayer to split off its consumer-health division, in line with a broader industry trend. Such a move could help Bayer pay down its high levels of debt and invest in new drugs for its struggling pharma unit, but the option has also raised concerns that it would generate a high tax bill. Some investors have also voiced concerns that it could embolden plaintiff attorneys in the US to ratchet up legal fights with Bayer if it appears that there’s more money to be had. Markus Manns, portfolio manager at Union Investment, a top 20 shareholder in Bayer, said he expects a critical review of the group structure and measures to limit legal risks, reduce debt, increase cash flow and improve the pharmaceutical pipeline. “This will not all happen in one fell swoop, but the direction and speed should be right,” he said. Bayer’s announcement Wednesday evening, which included plans to slash jobs in its managerial ranks, was a major step for Anderson, who’s managed to convince his workforce that vastly reducing the internal bureaucracy is necessary to resurrect the fortunes of what was once Germany’s most valuable company. Since taking over Monsanto in 2018, shares are down about 70%. Read more: Bayer Sees No Quick Fixes After Bankers Game Out Breakup Notably, Heike Hausfeld, a Bayer worker and deputy chair of the supervisory board, said in the statement that she’s agreed with a “heavy heart” to the job cuts but is “vigorously campaigning” to keep the conglomerate structure in place. Anderson, though, will still have to contend with investors convinced the company should split to boost its share price and cut its pile of debt. While Bayer’s three divisions are all “good businesses,” they probably don’t belong under one roof, David Herro, portfolio manager at Harris Associates LP, which owns a roughly 4% stake, told Bloomberg News earlier this month. “I would be disappointed if they couldn’t find a way,” Herro said of changing up the ownership structure. “This cannot be the most optimal structure. I would find it hard to believe if that is the case. They must clearly demonstrate why.” (Updates with comment in eighth and ninth paragraphs.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 13:36:27+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2122]}

{}

ECB Asks Banks for Details About Exposure to Spain’s Grifols

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-asks-banks-details-exposure-133627684.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank has asked some lenders to provide information on their exposure to Grifols SA, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The lenders have been asked about their risk metrics, said the people, who added that it’s not an uncommon request. The questions come after Grifols’s accounting was criticized by short seller Gotham City Research LLC last week, causing the shares to collapse by more than 40%. The company has denied any wrongdoing and pledged to simplify its business structure. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the ECB was sounding out banks that work with Grifols, citing a person familiar as saying authorities want to understand the debt exposure to Grifols and related entities, such as Scranton Enterprises BV. Representatives for Grifols and the ECB declined to comment to Bloomberg on Thursday. Scranton, an investment vehicle controlled by former executives, has been at the heart of the company’s controversy over corporate governance. Grifols has also come under pressure for its €9.5 billion ($10.3 billion) debt burden, though some of that concern has been alleviated by plans to sell assets, including a stake in a Chinese blood products firm. In Scranton’s annual reports, which are dated 2021, the firm disclosed about €907 million in loans to a group of banks including Banco Santander SA, CaixaBank SA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Bank of America Corp. and BNP Paribas SA. Spokespeople for Santander, CaixaBank, BBVA, Bank of America and BNP declined to comment. --With assistance from Macarena Muñoz. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 13:43:05+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2636]}

{}

FRMO Corporation (PNK:FRMO) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/frmo-corporation-pnk-frmo-q2-134305497.html

Insider Monkey

http://www.insidermonkey.com

FRMO Corporation (PNK: FRMO ) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript January 16, 2024 FRMO Corporation isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter ( see the details here ). Therese Byars: Good afternoon, everyone. This is Therese Byars speaking, and I'm the Corporate Secretary of FRMO Corp. Thank you for joining us on this call. The statements made on this call apply only as of today. The information on this call should not be construed to be a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security or investment fund. The opinions referenced on this call today are not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. It should not be assumed that any of the security transactions referenced today have been or will prove to be profitable, or that future investment decisions will be profitable or will equal or exceed the past performance of the investments. For additional information, you may visit the FRMO website at frmocorp.com. Today's discussion will be led by Murray Stahl, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He will review key points related to the 2024 second quarter earnings. A replay for this call will be available on the FRMO website until the summary transcript is posted. And now I'll turn it over to Mr. Stahl. A close-up of a financial chart with complex data points. Murray Stahl: Okay. Thanks, Therese, and thanks, everybody, for joining us. I'll just go right into it. This quarter, I would argue was a milestone quarter for us. The reason I say it was a milestone quarter for us is, you'll observe that our biggest position, TPL, was actually down for the quarter, and you can see the line of unrealized losses. Of course, that's on all our realized losses because we're consolidating HK Hard Assets, but it was down, however, it was more than balanced by two other positions. And the first one was Winland, formerly known as Winland Electronics, now we call Winland Holdings, which is where we've been doing a lot of our cryptocurrency mining work, and you might observe if you line up all the quarterly financial statements. Story continues And then you'll see we're gradually increasing our position in. And as of quarter-end, I think you can look it up on the on the summary page on the website, but I think we're up to 1,593,000 shares, roughly, and we bought more subsequently. So I think we're around 35% of Winland. More about that in a minute. And then the other position or the other positions is the various ways we express ownership of bitcoin directly, not the least of which, actually most important of which is the Bitcoin Investment Trust, GBTC. So this was the first quarter that the crypto earnings actually outweighed TPL. And incidentally, we increased our exposure to every one of our holdings. We might also remark that despite all of that the investing, and you can see how much money we spent, we increased our cash balance, not decreased our cash balance relative to fiscal year-end. So - and our own shareholders, not the consolidated shareholders, that we were consolidate - that were noncontrolling interest in the HK Hard Assets, but our own equity interest now exceeds $206 million. So there's a substantial investment here with substantial liquidity and we expand in crypto little by little every quarter. So maybe the first thing I should tell you is why do we expand little by little every quarter when no one else seems to do that. And I know it might be excruciating to watch, but it's necessary to do it that way. The reason it's necessary to do it that way is because of two factors in the world of mining, the one is, that no matter what point in the cycle you are, this is a cycle, of course, relative to the having in bitcoin, you're always every passing day you're approaching yet another halving. See also Wall Street Analysts See Upside Potential for 10 Stocks with Rising Price Targets and 30 Cheapest Places Across America Where You Will Want to Retire . To continue reading the Q&A session, please click here .

2024-01-18 14:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [356, 445, 797, 1300, 2853, 3216], "BTC": [1630, 3157]}

{"Bitcoin": [5]}

Spot Bitcoin vs Ethereum ETFs: The Race Is On

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spot-bitcoin-vs-ethereum-etfs-140000730.html

etf.com

https://www.etf.com/

ETF Investing Tools The bitcoin versus Ethereum ETF race is on for 2024. A 24% performance differential divides the popular crypto investments, as futures-based Ethereum ETFs are up nearly 15% and the new spot bitcoin ETFs are down 9% in their first three days of trading through Jan. 16. Over that brief period, $1.2 billion has flowed from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) , while $740 million has flowed into new spot ETFs like the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) , meaning that almost $2billion has gone into the non-GBTC spot bitcoin ETFs this year. The heavy flows and trading volume partially explain the negative performance for spot bitcoin ETFs thus far. Investors Eye SEC Approval of a Spot Ethereum ETF Meanwhile, Ethereum appears to be gaining a similar kind of investor enthusiasm as Bitcoin did in 2023, as multiple issuers, including the ETF behemoth BlackRock, Inc., have filed for a spot Ethereum ETF . The timetable for the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a spot Ethereum ETF takes us to May 2024, which could lead to the bidding up of Ethereum prices in the coming months. Although the 2024 spot bitcoin versus Ethereum ETF race has only just begun, the story is setting up as the more established cryptocurrency versus the rising outsider. GBTC Outflows Impact Spot Bitcoin ETF Pricing Digging a bit deeper into spot bitcoin’s poor start, $1.2 billion flowing out of GBTC pumped significant liquidity into the bitcoin ecosystem. The higher supply offset the early demand; thus, the price did not leap higher as many expected. The SEC announcement also appeared to become a “sell the news” event. BTC’s price rose more than 21% from late November through Jan. 8, peaking near $47,000 according to crypto data aggregator CoinGecko data, as signs suggested increasingly that the SEC would approve at least a few of the filings (the agency approved all 11 applications). A primary reason for GBTC’s huge outflows is likely its expense ratio of 1.50%, which is more than 100 basis points higher than any of the other 10 spot bitcoin ETFs on the market. Another reason is that GBTC had previously been a closed-end bitcoin trust with $29 billion in assets, and the SEC allowed it to convert to a spot bitcoin ETF last week as the new spot ETFs launched. Story continues GBTC’s conversion enabled investors to sell shares. They had likely been waiting to exit the closed-end fund once they were longer locked in. Many investors bought GBTC at a discount in 2023, which was as low as 50%. and sold at par to capture gains after the conversion. Closed-end funds can be less liquid than ETFs, which are open-ended funds. The limited number of shares outstanding can result in wider bid-ask spreads and reduced liquidity for CEFs. If there aren't enough buyers, a closed-end fund can trade at a discount. What’s Next for the Spot Bitcoin vs Ethereum ETF Race? Investors will likely be eyeing the bitcoin halving in April. The halving will cut the reward for bitcoin miners from the current 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoin, reducing the number of tokens entering the system. Observers of the digital asset space widely expect the event to boost BTC’s price and bring more assets into spot bitcoin funds. Bitcoin miners are lynchpins of the blockchain, helping to ensure its integrity. A month later, the SEC will decide on multiple applications for Ethereum ETFs, which could increase the price of ether, the token of the Ethereum network. Permalink | © Copyright 2024 etf.com. All rights reserved

2024-01-18 14:03:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2275]}

{}

Illicit crypto addresses received at least $24.2 billion in 2023 - report

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illicit-crypto-addresses-received-least-140356888.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON (Reuters) - At least $24.2 billion worth of crypto was sent to illicit crypto wallet addresses in 2023, including addresses identified as sanctioned or linked to terrorist financing and scams, crypto research firm Chainalysis said on Thursday. Cryptocurrencies enable people to send money around the world without using the mainstream financial system. The underlying blockchain technology creates a record of transactions where senders and receivers are identified only by their wallet addresses, which are a string of letters and numbers. Chainalysis said the $24.2 billion number is almost certainly an underestimation and will rise as it identifies more illicit addresses. It also said it had doubled its 2022 estimate to $39.6 billion from $20.6 billion. Chainalysis' data only includes crypto-related crime. It said it was impossible to determine from blockchain data alone the volume of cryptocurrency that is the proceeds of non-crypto-related crime, for example when cryptocurrency is the means of payment in drug trafficking. Instead, the firm counted crypto sent to wallet addresses identified as illicit, plus the volume of funds stolen in crypto hacks. Chainalysis said sanctioned entities and jurisdictions together accounted for a combined $14.9 billion worth of illicit transaction volume in 2023, which represents 61.5% of all illicit transaction volume it measured on the year. Of this total, most came from crypto services sanctioned by the U.S. or located in U.S.-sanctioned jurisdictions where U.S. sanctions are not enforced. Revenue from crypto scamming and hacking fell in 2023, Chainalysis said, but ransomware and darknet markets saw revenues rise. Various other types of illicit addresses were identified in the report, including those linked to terrorist financing, cybercrime and child abuse material. The U.S. has said it will crack down on crypto firms which fail to block and report illicit money flows. Last year, the founder of crypto exchange Binance pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Story continues A United Nations report on Monday said that unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges have become "foundational pieces" of financial architecture used by organised crime in Southeast Asia. Bitcoin was the top cryptocurrency used by cybercriminals in 2021, but stablecoins have become more dominant in the last two years, now accounting for the majority of all illicit transaction volume, Chainalysis said. (Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Jane Merriman)

2024-01-18 14:23:52+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2643]}

{}

NYC Mayor Faces Likely Primary Challenge From Ex-Comptroller

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-nyc-comptroller-scott-stringer-120000018.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said he’s creating a campaign committee to raise money for a possible 2025 primary challenge to Mayor Eric Adams. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap He’s among almost a dozen Democrats weighing a run against Adams, whose approval rating has plummeted in the wake of the migrant crisis, budget cuts and a federal criminal investigation into his fundraising. Stringer’s announcement Thursday of plans to form a campaign committee makes him the first candidate to take a concrete step toward trying to unseat Adams, who is seeking reelection. “For the last two years this ship has been heading straight for an iceberg,” Stringer said in an interview. “We need a new captain to right the ship. I can’t stand by and watch our city devolve into chaos.” Stringer, 63, served two terms as comptroller from 2014 to 2021, where he oversaw the city’s pension funds. He also held roles as Manhattan borough president and was a member of the state Assembly for 12 years. He was among several Democrats who ran for mayor in 2021 in the race won by Adams. Though never a frontrunner in early polls, Stringer was positioned to perform well in the June primary after raising more than $10.2 million and earning coveted endorsements from the 200,000-member United Federation of Teachers, the 20,000-member grocery store workers’ union and the left-leaning Working Families Party. Read More: NYC Mayor’s Woes Are So Bad Even Andrew Cuomo Is Eyeing Run But his bid was derailed in late April of that year when a woman who worked on one of his political campaigns two decades earlier accused him of sexual harassment, alleging Stringer groped her and kissed her without consent during his 2001 campaign for New York City public advocate. Stringer denied the allegations. The Working Families Party and several influential young progressive lawmakers rescinded their endorsements in response to the allegations, and Stringer’s poll numbers plunged. He ultimately came in fifth in the primary, earning just 5.5% of the votes in the first round of the city’s ranked-choice voting system. (Updates with comment from Stringer in third paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 14:50:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2533]}

{}

Italy Plans to Sell €2 Billion Eni Stake to Reduce Debt

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/italy-plans-sell-2-billion-145050906.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s government is planning the sale of up to 4% of Eni SpA after the oil company completes a buy-back plan, a deal which would allow Rome to reduce its mammoth debt. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration aims to gain about €2 billion ($2.2 billion) from the sale of the stake, as part of its privatization push, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named on a confidential issue. The proposals are still being worked out and could change. The government aims to sell around €20 billion ($21.8 billion) in state-held stakes by 2026. Eni shares reversed earlier gains and fell as much as 1.2% to €14.47 in Milan trading. The Finance Ministry declined to comment. The Italian Treasury currently owns a 4.7% stake in Eni, while state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti holds 27.7%. Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti has repeatedly stated that asset sales are on the cards. He said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he’d discussed stake sales with foreign funds during the conference. He did not specify which companies. There is no indication so far on potential buyers. Italy faces low growth and persistently high interest rates this year which are hindering its efforts to cut a debt load that stands at around 140% of output. Planned stake sales would help reduce that debt and leave the government some breathing room to redirect other funds toward cutting taxes and keeping electoral promises. Other companies that may see part of the state’s holdings put on sale include Poste Italiane SpA and railroad company Ferrovie dello Stato SpA, the people said. Story continues Meanwhile, the government is pushing ahead with the sale of a 25% stake in lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, and of 41% of ITA Airways to Deutsche Lufthansa AG, which is at an advanced stage and under review by European Union competition authorities. --With assistance from Flavia Rotondi, Julien Ponthus and Tiago Ramos Alfaro. (Updates with shares reaction in fourth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 15:04:26+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [0, 368, 525, 916, 1022, 1241, 1505, 1655, 1723, 2175, 2295, 2616, 2938, 3033, 3178, 3236], "BTC": [2428, 3264]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Could See Growth in Layer-2 Ecosystem, Drawing on Ethereum's Experience: Report

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-could-see-growth-layer-150426780.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Bitcoin, which suffered last year from congestion as the oldest blockchain got bogged down with experiments in NFTs and tokens, could see growth of auxiliary layer-2 networks to address the network's inherent limitations, according to a new report . Existing solutions like Lightning Network could see growth, but new projects are also in the works, according to the "Bitcoin Layers" report Thursday by the Singapore-based blockchain asset-management Spartan Group and Kyle Ellicott , who recently served as a partner at the Bitcoin Frontier Fund. Such a trend would appear to take insight from Ethereum's architecture. Dozens of layer-2 projects have sprouted in the Ethereum ecosystem over the past year including Base, from the U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase, and big projects like Arbitrum, Optimism and Polygon are now pushing to foster additional networks based on their own blueprints. The layer-2 networks on Bitcoin are early stage compared to those on other blockchains but are growing, according to the authors. Bitcoin is now well placed to unlock its potential with layered architecture to mirror that on Ethereum, according to the report, arguing that the emergence of the Ordinals protocol a year ago "brought a renaissance of Bitcoin builder culture." Ordinals enabled the network to host non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and paved the way for the BRC-20 token standard, which uses a different technology from Ethereum's ERC-20 tokens but plays off the concept. The 'Big Four' The limitations of Bitcoin to a large extent revolve around a lack of programmability or application functionality and slow transaction speeds, the report argues. Where Bitcoin's Lightning Network has strived to bring faster payments to Bitcoin for a number of years, other layers are aiming to bring functionalities such as programmability and application functionality to imbue utility on the network beyond storing value. Along with Lightning, layer-2 projects Stacks, Liquid and Rootstock make up what the report refers to as the "Big Four," which on a combined basis make up the majority of L2 transactions and have focused on bringing smart contract and faster transaction speeds to Bitcoin. Story continues The projects will need refinement so they don't fall victim to the inherent limitations of the Bitcoin network, according to the authors. One particular upgrade on the radar is Stacks' Nakamoto Release, designed to enable cheap BTC transfers on a L2, improving transaction speeds to around five seconds instead of 10 to 30 minutes or even more. Beyond these four, there is a sizeable list of emerging innovations on Bitcoin which can fill the existing technical gaps, of which the report singles out a few. Ark, for example, is a L2 protocol allowing off-chain payments in which recipients receive payments without acquiring inbound liquidity, with the goal of lower costs than Lightning. MintLayer is another which is designed to act as Bitcoin sidechain optimized for DeFi-related activities. Such developments could capitalize on Bitcoin's tailwinds from the recent listing of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. and the forthcoming halving to inspire new use cases for Bitcoin and in turn spurring further adoption. Read More: Bitcoin Inscriptions Divide BTC Community Amid Network Congestion, but Are 'Unstoppable'

2024-01-18 15:12:55+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3484]}

{}

Discover Slumps as Profit Plunges 62% Amid Compliance Costs Pain

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/discover-slumps-profit-plunges-62-151255110.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Discover Financial Services posted a 62% drop in fourth-quarter profit as the company continued to grapple with the fallout from compliance and risk-management lapses that led to the resignation of its chief executive officer last year. The company’s shares tumbled. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap Net income for the three months through December totaled $388 million, or $1.54 a share, the credit-card lender said in a statement after the close of trading Wednesday. That missed the $2.52 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Shares of Discover slumped 6.9% to $101.19 at 10:12 a.m. in New York, their biggest decline in intraday trading in three months. “Employee compensation and professional fees were up due to investments in compliance and risk management,” the Riverwoods, Illinois-based company said in the statement. Fourth-quarter operating expenses climbed 18% to $1.78 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.59 billion. Chief Financial Officer John Greene said last month that fixing compliance issues could cost the company $500 million this year. Discover said in a presentation that it expects operating expenses to increase by the mid-single digits in 2024, “subject to risk and compliance matters.” In July, Discover said it misclassified certain credit-card accounts, resulting in merchants being overcharged, and suspended share repurchases. The lender received a proposed consent order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for a separate consumer compliance issue. It was the second time in a year that the company halted stock buybacks. It previously did so in 2022 after launching an internal investigation into practices within its student-loan business, which it’s now looking to sell. As part of that planned sale, Discover signed a servicing agreement with Nelnet Inc. on Wednesday, Greene said on a conference call with analysts Thursday. The sale should come in the third quarter of this year, or the fourth at the latest, he said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “Exiting that business will give us an opportunity to continue to progress our compliance and risk-management activities,” Greene said. It will also increased liquidity at Discover, allowing the firm to be more competitive with deposit pricing, he said on the earnings call. Story continues John Owen, who was named interim CEO after the August departure of Roger Hochschild, will hand the reins to Michael Rhodes in coming months. Read More: Discover Names TD Bank’s Rhodes CEO After Compliance Lapses Discover said it expects little loan growth in 2024 and that its net interest margin will decrease slightly from last year. Other fourth-quarter highlights: Revenue rose 13% to $4.2 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. Provision for credit losses more than doubled from a year earlier to $1.91 billion, topping the $1.63 billion analysts had predicted. Net interest income totaled $3.47 billion, surpassing the $3.38 billion analysts forecast. --With assistance from Bre Bradham. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 15:13:06+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5725]}

{}

Apple Vision Pro Headset Lacks Blockbuster Buzz Needed to Energize Shares

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-vision-pro-headset-lacks-151306317.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. shares have struggled with the perception that its growth heyday is in the past. Its virtual reality headset — the tech giant’s biggest innovation in years — is unlikely to play a major role in changing that view anytime soon. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion Apple Dials Back Car’s Self-Driving Features and Delays Launch to 2028 An Isolated Israel Doubles Down on War in Gaza — At All Costs Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Turkey Approves Sweden NATO Bid, Leaving Hungary as Holdout The iPhone maker is set to begin taking orders for the Vision Pro on Friday and Wall Street analysts are anticipating modest sales of the $3,499 device, which so far doesn’t seem to offer the kind of must-have features that have made the company’s signature smartphone a perennial blockbuster. The lack of a pronounced growth catalyst for Apple is a key reason why its market capitalization has dropped below that of Microsoft Corp, seen as a key beneficiary of artificial intelligence. “It’s hard to ask someone to pay $3,500 for a product where there’s a limited amount of content people can’t get on their phone, which means it’ll be pretty darn niche-y, at least for a couple years,” said Denny Fish, who manages tech sector funds at Janus Henderson. Excitement for the device on Wall Street has been tepid, with projections for a relatively small impact. At UBS, Apple is seen shipping 300,000 to 400,000 units this year. At the high end, the device would contribute $1.4 billion in revenue and a couple of pennies to earnings per share, amounts analyst David Vogt called “immaterial” for a company that had sales of $383 billion in fiscal 2023. While Apple earned its reputation as one of the Magnificent Seven of 2023, jumping nearly 50% and hitting a record as recently as December, it has struggled out of the gate this year. The stock has fallen by about 3% this month, while the Nasdaq 100 Index is down less than 1%. Among the seven megacap stocks that led last year’s market’s advance, only Tesla Inc. has fared worse. Mostly muted expectations for the Vision Pro encapsulate the problems facing Apple, which has reported four-consecutive quarters of shrinking revenue, its worst run since 2001. In a high-profile snub of the new technology, Netflix Inc. — which competes with Apple for subscribers in streaming — said it isn’t planning to launch an app for the device. While the Cupertino, California-based company is projected to return to growth in 2024, at roughly 3% it’s half the expansion expected for the overall S&P 500 tech sector this fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. By contrast, Microsoft’s revenue is expected to rise 15% in the current fiscal year. Story continues Such a growth rate is hardly inspiring for investors considering Apple’s premium valuation, especially amid a backdrop of antitrust-related uncertainty. At 27 times projected profits, it’s priced well above the Nasdaq 100 as well as its own average over the past 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback The stock has received at least three downgrades in 2024 and Wall Street’s relatively cautious stance toward the company stands in contrast to other megacaps. Just 62% of firms recommend buying the stock, compared with ratios above 85% for Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. Alphabet Inc., Nvidia Corp., and Meta Platforms Inc. Of course, Apple continues to have its enthusiastic backers that cite factors like robust cash flow and share buybacks as offsets to growth concerns. The stock has repeatedly acted as a flight-to-safety play in periods of uncertainty or market turmoil. Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral Thursday, anticipating a stronger iPhone upgrade cycle driven by the need for the latest hardware to enable generative AI in 2024-2025. “It is hard to bet against Apple given its cash flow and the loyalty of its customers, and the stock doesn’t look overly expensive given the quality of the company,” said Tom Plumb, manager of the Plumb Balanced Fund. “However, I do think the stock will be rangebound until it can excite people from a revenue-growth perspective, and there’s very little visibility as to what the next big thing will be.” Tech Chart of the Day Top Tech Stories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects a return to solid growth this quarter and gave itself room to raise capital spending in 2024, suggesting the world’s most valuable chipmaker anticipates a recovery in smartphone and computing demand. Samsung Electronics Co. is pinning its hopes for a mobile revival on artificial intelligence. Apple will begin selling versions of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches without a blood oxygen feature in the US, following a legal setback in its patent dispute with Masimo Corp. Ads running on Meta Platforms Inc.’s apps saw return on spending increase by an average of 32% with the help of artificial intelligence, global business group head Nicola Mendelsohn said. Fujitsu Ltd. has promised it won’t bid for more UK government contracts until the outcome of a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, in which hundreds of people were wrongly convicted for theft or false accounting after using the technology company’s Horizon software. Earnings Due Thursday No major earnings expected --With assistance from Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Should I Tell My Colleagues (or My Boss) About My Bipolar Diagnosis? It’s the Tesla Earnings Call—Time for Elon Musk Bingo The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 15:16:04+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5037]}

{}

TSMC’s Outlook Backs Hopes for Global Tech Recovery in 2024

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tsmc-outlook-backs-hopes-global-085625829.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects a return to solid growth this quarter and gave itself room to raise capital spending in 2024, suggesting the world’s most valuable chipmaker anticipates a recovery in smartphone and computing demand. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The main chipmaker to Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. is budgeting capital expenditure of $28 billion to $32 billion — versus about $30 billion in 2023 — and expecting revenue growth to bounce back to at least 20% for the year. It’s moving ahead with plans for chipmaking plants in Japan, Arizona and Germany — the first of which will begin mass production at the end of 2024 in a big boost to TSMC’s global footprint. TSMC shares rose 8.1% to $111.27 at 9:57 a.m. in New York, their biggest intraday jump since May. The Taiwanese company’s outlook, while not quite surpassing the most bullish estimates, comes after a years-long slump in tech demand. Executives also spent a chunk of time talking about the potential catalysts from the boom in AI development worldwide, which requires powerful chips that TSMC excels in fabricating. Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei, who’s set to take over the chairmanship from Mark Liu this year, reiterated he expects a return to “healthy growth.” The results buoyed peers including TSMC-supplier ASML Holding NV, which rose more than 3% and led a rally in fellow European chip equipment stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped as much as 3.2% during Thursday’s trading. “Our business has bottomed out on a year-over-year basis, and we expect 2024 to be a healthy growth year for TSMC,” Wei said. Story continues Read More: World Chip Sales Return to Growth in Sign of Improving Demand Signs of a recovery for the chipmaking sector have emerged in recent weeks. The Semiconductor Industry Association estimated chip sales increased in November after more than a year of declines. TSMC is projecting revenue growth of at least 8% to $18 billion to $18.8 billion in the March quarter, versus expectations for around $18.2 billion. Click here for a liveblog on the numbers. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says TSMC’s ambitious 2024 revenue target, set at low-to-mid-20% growth, underscores its confidence in retaining high customer acceptance for its advanced N3 and N5 nodes, despite rising competition from Samsung and Intel and a slow recovery in smartphone and PC markets. The target rate surpasses both consensus estimates and the 13.1% global semiconductor sales growth forecast by the SIA. — Charles Shum, analyst Click here for the full research. Unlike on previous calls, the conversation this time was dominated largely by Wei, who upon Liu’s retirement will become one of the industry’s most influential executives. Wei, who’s long adopted a lower profile, argued that TSMC will become a linchpin of the AI development boom, much as it helped fuel the smartphone industry alongside Apple. TSMC’s revenue should grow in the low- to mid-20% range this year, Wei said, reversing the slight decline of 2023. It reported a 19% drop in net income for the fourth quarter to NT$238.7 billion ($7.6 billion), beating the average analyst estimate. Revenue was $625.5 billion, TSMC reported earlier, matching the previous holiday quarter and arresting a series of falls. But uncertainty persists. Over the course of 2023, TSMC moderated its capital expenditure plans as the consumer electronics industry grappled with a glut of unsold inventory. This month, fellow chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. posted its sixth successive quarter of declining operating profit, as it weathered the impact of muted consumer demand in its own smartphone and memory businesses. Questions also overshadow China, the world’s largest computing, smartphone, internet and chip market. Read More: China’s iPhone Ban Accelerates Across Agencies, State Firms Apple — long one of TSMC’s most important customers — faced headwinds with its latest iPhone generation. Several analysts downgraded Apple on expectations of soft demand, and Jefferies has said the iPhone sales slump in China is likely to deepen. The US company has also been hit by a widening ban on foreign-device use among Chinese agencies and state-owned companies. “We expect 2024 to be a healthy growth year for TSMC,” Wei said. “We are all well-positioned to capture a major portion of the market in terms of semiconductor components in AI.” --With assistance from Gao Yuan, Cindy Wang and Sam Kim. (Updates with shares in third and sixth paragraphs) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 15:16:04+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4941]}

{}

TSMC’s Outlook Backs Hopes for Global Tech Recovery in 2024

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tsmc-profit-drops-less-feared-053626474.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects a return to solid growth this quarter and gave itself room to raise capital spending in 2024, suggesting the world’s most valuable chipmaker anticipates a recovery in smartphone and computing demand. Most Read from Bloomberg Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Say Buy the Dip After Treasury Rout China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion Never Trumpers Brace for New Hampshire Shutout The main chipmaker to Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. is budgeting capital expenditure of $28 billion to $32 billion — versus about $30 billion in 2023 — and expecting revenue growth to bounce back to at least 20% for the year. It’s moving ahead with plans for chipmaking plants in Japan, Arizona and Germany — the first of which will begin mass production at the end of 2024 in a big boost to TSMC’s global footprint. TSMC shares rose 8.1% to $111.27 at 9:57 a.m. in New York, their biggest intraday jump since May. The Taiwanese company’s outlook, while not quite surpassing the most bullish estimates, comes after a years-long slump in tech demand. Executives also spent a chunk of time talking about the potential catalysts from the boom in AI development worldwide, which requires powerful chips that TSMC excels in fabricating. Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei, who’s set to take over the chairmanship from Mark Liu this year, reiterated he expects a return to “healthy growth.” The results buoyed peers including TSMC-supplier ASML Holding NV, which rose more than 3% and led a rally in fellow European chip equipment stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped as much as 3.2% during Thursday’s trading. “Our business has bottomed out on a year-over-year basis, and we expect 2024 to be a healthy growth year for TSMC,” Wei said. Read More: World Chip Sales Return to Growth in Sign of Improving Demand Story continues Signs of a recovery for the chipmaking sector have emerged in recent weeks. The Semiconductor Industry Association estimated chip sales increased in November after more than a year of declines. TSMC is projecting revenue growth of at least 8% to $18 billion to $18.8 billion in the March quarter, versus expectations for around $18.2 billion. Click here for a liveblog on the numbers. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says TSMC’s ambitious 2024 revenue target, set at low-to-mid-20% growth, underscores its confidence in retaining high customer acceptance for its advanced N3 and N5 nodes, despite rising competition from Samsung and Intel and a slow recovery in smartphone and PC markets. The target rate surpasses both consensus estimates and the 13.1% global semiconductor sales growth forecast by the SIA. — Charles Shum, analyst Click here for the full research. Unlike on previous calls, the conversation this time was dominated largely by Wei, who upon Liu’s retirement will become one of the industry’s most influential executives. Wei, who’s long adopted a lower profile, argued that TSMC will become a linchpin of the AI development boom, much as it helped fuel the smartphone industry alongside Apple. TSMC’s revenue should grow in the low- to mid-20% range this year, Wei said, reversing the slight decline of 2023. It reported a 19% drop in net income for the fourth quarter to NT$238.7 billion ($7.6 billion), beating the average analyst estimate. Revenue was $625.5 billion, TSMC reported earlier, matching the previous holiday quarter and arresting a series of falls. But uncertainty persists. Over the course of 2023, TSMC moderated its capital expenditure plans as the consumer electronics industry grappled with a glut of unsold inventory. This month, fellow chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. posted its sixth successive quarter of declining operating profit, as it weathered the impact of muted consumer demand in its own smartphone and memory businesses. Questions also overshadow China, the world’s largest computing, smartphone, internet and chip market. Read More: China’s iPhone Ban Accelerates Across Agencies, State Firms Apple — long one of TSMC’s most important customers — faced headwinds with its latest iPhone generation. Several analysts downgraded Apple on expectations of soft demand, and Jefferies has said the iPhone sales slump in China is likely to deepen. The US company has also been hit by a widening ban on foreign-device use among Chinese agencies and state-owned companies. “We expect 2024 to be a healthy growth year for TSMC,” Wei said. “We are all well-positioned to capture a major portion of the market in terms of semiconductor components in AI.” --With assistance from Gao Yuan, Cindy Wang and Sam Kim. (Updates with shares in third and sixth paragraphs) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 15:33:21+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [32, 796, 1195, 1733, 1931, 2115, 2294, 3226]}

{"Bitcoin": [12]}

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Is First to Cross $1 Billion Threshold in Inflows

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-bitcoin-etf-first-cross-153321456.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc.’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund passed $1 billion in investor inflows, making it the first in the group of nine new ETFs directly holding the cryptocurrency to surpass the milestone since the funds started trading last week. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap Investors deposited $371 million in the fund on Wednesday, pushing IBIT past the milestone, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Fidelity Investments is close behind. The company’s FBTC Bitcoin ETF saw $358 million in inflows yesterday — the highest single day tally since the fund launched a week ago. In total, about $880 million have flowed into Fidelity’s fund. BlackRock and Fidelity have driven early consolidation in the new asset, with the two firms receiving 68% of all inflows across the nine new ETFs on the market, totaling nearly $2 billion. Read more: What Are These New Bitcoin ETFs and How Do They Work?: QuickTake “Considering it’s BlackRock, I don’t think that’s surprising - they have the resources,” said Todd Sohn, an ETF strategist at Strategas. “But it shows how serious they are about this as an asset class. There’s too much opportunity to not have some power behind the launch.” A significant portion of inflows are coming from investors leaving Grayscale Investment’s GBTC fund after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the ETFs, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which was created in 2013, had over $28 billion in assets under management when it converted to an ETF, but has seen about $1.6 billion in outflows since trading started. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF has a sector-high management fee of 1.5%. Management fees at BlackRock and Fidelity are a fraction of GBTC’s cost, but they do not have the lowest fees in the group of new Bitcoin ETFs — that title goes to Franklin Templeton with its 0.19% management fee. Despite its industry-low fee, Franklin has received less than 2% of inflows across the broader Bitcoin ETF group. The two group-leading firms may capture more market share moving forward as a result of their institutional and retail distribution networks, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. BlackRock is seeing interest from “day one” retail investors, but they are also focused on attracting investors who are new to the asset class, according to Rachel Aguirre, iShares head of US product at BlackRock. Story continues “We’re really seeing flows come from a number of different directions,” Aguirre said. “Clearly, the interest we’re seeing is both from retail, from self-directed investors and there are some who were ready to invest on day one but we’re also focused on those investors who are also just now beginning to look at this new asset class and we’re very excited about that.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 15:34:44+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3761]}

{}

China’s Deflation Is Led by Goods, Adding Trade-Tension Risk

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-deflation-led-goods-adding-153444504.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- China’s deflation was driven by falling prices in its manufacturing sector last year, fresh data showed on Thursday, adding to the risk of trade tensions with the US and Europe amid a major ramp-up in Chinese industrial capacity. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap China’s GDP deflator, the widest measure of prices across the economy, was negative 0.6% in 2023, the steepest annual decline since the late 1990s, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from China’s statistics bureau. Among sectors, manufacturing showed the biggest price drop, at 3.2%, Bloomberg calculations show. The figures add to evidence that domestic supply in some sectors is running ahead of China’s demand. And that’s likely to fuel accusations in Washington and Brussels that China is over-investing in some manufactured goods sectors, undermining US and European Union rivals. Agricultural prices dropped 2.2%, Thursday’s figures showed, based on Bloomberg calculations. But it’s manufacturing deflation that’s raising tensions. An index of China’s export prices fell 9.2% year-on-year in November. And China clocked a trade surplus of some $823 billion for all of last year, the second highest on record. While consumers round the world may benefit from China’s cheapening goods prices — and many central banks may appreciate the disinflationary impulse — for overseas producers the impulse threatens their own competitiveness. Politicians may see China’s deflation as a threat to jobs in their constituencies, and to investment programs aimed at bolstering the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy. “China has the best supply chains when it comes to EV cars or renewables. Coupled with weak domestic demand, the downside of this is that this has led to overcapacities and a collapse of prices,” the EU ambassador to China, Jorge Toledo, said at an event this week. “The threat is that China will be flooding the market at incredible prices — and this will put our industries at risk.” China’s investment in manufacturing grew 6.5% in 2023, according to official data. The industrial capacity utilization rate increased slightly in year-on-year terms to 75.9% in the last quarter, close to a pre-pandemic rate of 77.5%. Story continues One area of the economy that did see inflation last year was services - which helped push the share of that sector to a record 54.6% of China’s GDP. Manufacturing’s share of output fell slightly to 26.2%, reflecting the drop in output prices. Prices in China’s contracting real estate sector were positive for the year. “However, it is important to note that real estate in the tertiary sector does not include construction activity, which is captured by the construction deflator that dipped to -1.0% in 2023,” economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. led by Harrington Zhang wrote in a note. Deflation could linger in 2024 due to weak food prices and PPI deflation, the Nomura team wrote. “The implied GDP deflator could even record another negative reading for full-year 2024.” As for food prices, they should stabilize as demand recovers and government policies supporting agriculture take effect, Jin Xiandong, an official with the country’s top economic planning agency, said in a briefing on Thursday. --With assistance from Michael Nienaber. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 15:35:51+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3104]}

{}

Houthis Say They’re Improving Military Might in Defiance of US

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/houthis-improving-military-might-defiance-153551507.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Yemen’s Houthis vowed they would keep attacking ships in the Red Sea, even after the US launched a fourth round of missiles strikes against them. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap “It is an honor for our people to be in such a confrontation with these evil forces,” Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the head of the Iran-backed militant group, said in a televised speech on Thursday, citing the US, the UK and Israel. The Houthis are now in “direct confrontation” with all three and are taking steps to bolster their military capabilities, he said. The Houthis have ramped up attacks on vessels in and around the southern Red Sea since mid-November, roiling shipping markets and sending freight costs higher. The group says its campaign is to support Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza. Read more: Who Are the Houthis Being Hit With US, UK Airstrikes?: QuickTake The Houthis have ignored repeated warnings form the West to stop. On Jan. 12, the US and UK launched the first of their strikes against them, targeting military airports, radar installations and storage and launch sites for drones and missiles. US officials have said that while they don’t expect to deter the Houthis, they believe they are degrading the group’s ability to fire missiles and drones at ships. Still, this week the Houthis have hit three more merchant vessels, including a US-owned commodities carrier on Wednesday evening. Al-Houthi’s remarks raise the prospect of a prolonged conflict in the region as the fallout from Israel’s war against Hamas worsens. “Our maritime operations are having a very big impact and that’s what we want,” he said. Read more: Red Sea Shipping Chaos Worsens as US Strikes Broaden Crisis Story continues Many shipping companies and energy firms are avoiding the Red Sea, which normally handles 12% of global seaborne trade. Plenty of vessels are instead taking the much longer journey to and from Europe by going around southern Africa. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October, US bases have come under fire from Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, and Tehran has struck targets in neighboring countries. Hezbollah, one of the most powerful militias in the Middle East, has also engaged in cross-border fire with Israel. LNG Tankers Divert From Red Sea as Qatar Warns of Escalation Al-Houthi, whose group receives significant financial, military and intelligence support from Tehran and is eager to elevate its standing within Iran’s alliance of regional proxies, said the group wanted to be a “real pressure point” on the US and Israel. The Palestinian cause is “one that we live by and die by,” he added. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 15:37:04+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4340]}

{}

Coinbase Compares Buying Crypto to Collecting Beanie Babies

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-argues-crypto-beanie-babies-202040218.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. said buying cryptocurrency on an exchange was more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in a stock or bond. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The biggest US crypto exchange made the comparison Wednesday in a New York federal court hearing. Coinbase was arguing for the dismissal of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing it of selling unregistered securities. William Savitt, a lawyer for Coinbase, told US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla that tokens trading on the exchange aren’t securities subject to SEC jurisdiction because buyers don’t gain any rights as a part of their purchases, as they do with stocks or bonds. “It’s the difference between buying Beanie Babies Inc. and buying Beanie Babies,” Savitt said. The question of whether digital tokens are securities has divided courts. Another Manhattan federal judge ruled in July that exchange sales of Ripple Labs XRP token weren’t subject to SEC jurisdiction, while yet another judge that same month reached the opposite conclusion in the regulator’s case against Terraform Labs Pte. Collecting Boom, Bust Coinbase is asking Failla to follow the Ripple decision in dismissing the SEC’s suit. The judge ended the hearing without ruling. Beanie Babies, which were the subject of a 1990s collecting boom and bust that some have likened to crypto, had come up earlier in the hearing when Failla said she had a “real fear” that the SEC’s position might lead to the regulation of collectibles. Lawyers for the government responded that buying an item like a baseball card or a figurine doesn’t mean that someone is buying a stake in the enterprise that makes such items. Story continues “When you are buying a collectible, let’s say a baseball card or a figurine of some kind, you’re just buying the item,” SEC lawyer Patrick Costello said. “You are buying a thing. You are not buying into something. And that, I think, is the difference. There is no enterprise that is involved in this.” But he said that wasn’t the case with tokens sold on Coinbase. “When they buy this token, they are investing into the network behind it,” Costello said. “One cannot be separated from the other.” The SEC sued Coinbase in June, alleging that the exchange skirted its rules for years by allowing users to trade numerous crypto tokens that were actually unregistered securities. The regulator points to a 1946 Supreme Court decision defining a security as an “investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others.” ‘Water’s Edge’ Lawyers for the SEC on Wednesday pressed Failla to reject Coinbase’s arguments, saying that the exchange is leading customers to believe that some of the digital assets they buy on the platform will increase in value. Savitt acknowledged that buyers of digital assets on Coinbase may believe that their investments could rise in value, but he said that’s not enough. “Agencies have authority and the commission has broad authority within the world of securities to regulate,” he said. “But it does stop at the water’s edge.” Bloomberg Intelligence senior litigation analyst Elliott Stein, who attended the hearing, predicts Failla will back Coinbase in dismissing the SEC suit. He said he didn’t think the SEC’s arguments allayed the judge’s concern that allowing the case to go forward could also lead to regulating collectibles as securities. If the case goes forward, Stein also thinks Coinbase still has a 70% chance of ultimately winning. But he says the exchange faces liability as high as $1 billion if it loses. The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Coinbase Inc., 23-cv-04738, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). (Updates with further comments from hearing starting in seventh paragraph and additional comments from BI analyst.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 15:46:25+00:00

{"BTC": [29, 95]}

{"Bitcoin": [30], "BTC": [72]}

Tether Reportedly Bought 8.9K Bitcoin for $380M, Remaining 11th-Largest BTC Holder

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-reportedly-bought-8-9k-154625847.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Tether added to its bitcoin [BTC] holdings at the end of the fourth quarter, buying 8,888 more BTC for $380 million, The Block reported. An address associated with the company shows bitcoin holdings of 66,465, which makes it the 11th-largest holder of the cryptocurrency, according to a ranking by Dune Analytics. In an effort to shift away from cash and cash-like assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds backing its USDT stablecoin, Tether announced in May 2023 that it would start allocating as much as 15% of its profits into bitcoin. USDT is the world's largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of over $95 billion . In its latest attestation report , Tether held $72.6 billion in government bonds and $1.7 billion in bitcoin, among other allocations. The company has long been under the microscope for the quality of its assets, but Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, whose firm acts as a custodian for Tether, this week reassured skeptics that its holdings are legit . The Switzerland-based company first purchased bitcoin in September 2022.

2024-01-18 15:49:07+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3221]}

{}

Nelson Peltz Renews Attack on Disney Leaders After Board Bid Rejected

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nelson-peltz-renews-attack-disney-152020260.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Nelson Peltz said Walt Disney Co. is unable to heal “self-inflicted wounds” under current leadership and should be aiming for “Netflix-like margins,” days after the entertainment giant knocked back the activist’s bid for a seat on its board. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap In a proxy statement on Thursday, Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP, which holds about $3 billion in Disney stock, reiterated calls for an overhaul of governance and strategy at the California-based company. Trian last year nominated Peltz and Jay Rasulo, Disney’s CFO from 2010 to 2015, for positions on the media group’s board as part of its efforts to improve performance. Disney on Tuesday rejected the proposal, saying Peltz lacked new ideas and Rasulo had been away from the media business for too long. “It is unfortunate that a company as iconic as Disney and with so many challenges and opportunities has refused to seriously engage with us, its largest active shareowner, about board representation,” Peltz said in Thursday’s filing. Disney this week said it’s had no less than 20 “meaningful” interactions with Peltz since the Trian founder dropped an earlier push for a board seat last February. Those included a Nov. 19 sit down in New York between Peltz and Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger. A representative for Disney declined to comment. Peltz has previously criticized Disney for bungling its own CEO transition after Iger returned to run the company in November 2022 following the ouster of his successor, Bob Chapek. “Disney is resisting change and asking shareholders to endorse a board comprised mainly of legacy directors (and their hand-picked successors) who have repeatedly failed to properly plan for CEO succession, misaligned the incentives of management, and failed to oversee or drive a strategy to get the streaming business to profitability or the studios to produce good content,” Peltz said in Thursday’s filing. Trian wants Disney to target margins akin to those of Netflix Inc. of 15% to 20% by full year 2027. It said the company needs a board-led review of creative processes to reclaim its “#1 box office position.” The investment firm plans to give more details about its goals and initiatives to achieve them in a full shareholder presentation at a later date. Story continues Earlier this month, Disney entered into an information-sharing agreement with another activist shareholder, ValueAct Capital, as part of its efforts to stave off pressure from Peltz. Iger has had a cordial relationship with ValueAct’s CEO Mason Morfit for years. ValueAct plans to support Disney’s slate of board nominees, including Morgan Stanley Chairman James Gorman, at its next annual meeting. (Adds details from proxy filing throughout.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 16:02:17+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [7830]}

{}

Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/airstrikes-yemen-bring-level-chaos-135237508.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The US and UK’s decision to hit back at Houthi militants after weeks of attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea has only escalated the chaos across the shipping industry, underscoring the threat of an enduring supply-chain crisis as vessels navigate the crucial trade route. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap On Wednesday, a third commodity carrier in three days was struck, this time by a drone. Senior officials in the shipping industry privately acknowledge that many crew are now frightened at the prospect of transit. Shortly after the US and UK launched airstrikes at Houthi targets in Yemen — marking a step up from the more defensive approach known as Operation Prosperity Guardian — Western navies advised ships to stay away. That guidance was publicly heeded by the owners and operators of at least 2,300 merchant vessels — and some insurers responded by restricting cover. Read more: How Houthi Red Sea Attacks Are Disrupting World Trade: QuickTake The result has been sharp declines in shipments through a waterway that would normally handle about 12% of global seaborne trade. Flows of oil, gas, grains, manufactured goods have increasingly been diverted. Even a livestock carrier appeared to detour, raising animal welfare concerns. “It’s a very uncertain time, and I think all of us are waiting to see the overall impact of the ongoing Operation Prosperity Guardian, and also the most recent strikes,” said John Stawpert, a senior manager for trade and environment at the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents owners of about 80% of the global shipping fleet. “The potential impact of these attacks is horrendous” for crews. Insurance costs for those ships whose seafarers do brave the waterway have shot up tenfold, including a large increase since the airstrikes. Some underwriters are even seeking to exclude US, UK and Israeli vessels from cover, and container shipping and oil freight rates are starting to climb. The nervous crews, fraught safety situation, disrupted transits, delayed deliveries and volatile freight markets have revived talk of inflationary pressures and costlier oil, as well as warnings of supply chain snarls that could damage the global economy. “For us, this will mean longer transit times and probably disruption of supply chains for a few months at least,” Vincent Clerc, chief executive officer of transport giant A. P. Moller-Maersk A/S, said this week. Story continues READ: GLOBAL INSIGHT: Red Sea Attacks, Impact — Scenarios Update US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday it was “too soon” to say what impact the strikes would have, but that they’d had a “good effect” in terms of disrupting and degrading the Houthis’ capability to conduct military offensive operations. The impact on US supply chains and energy prices from the conflict is limited, a US official said Thursday, adding that the trade route is more important to Asia and Europe. Most crude oil shipments from the Middle East to the US Gulf Coast already go via the Cape of Good Hope, vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Deliveries to the West Coast pass Singapore and cross the North Pacific. Complicated Situation At its narrowest point, the Bab el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea — an unavoidable waypoint for any freighter using the Suez Canal to cut between Asia or the Middle East and Europe — is about 20 miles from Yemen on one side to Djibouti on the other. “It’s very complicated for everybody,” said Dirk Siebels, senior analyst at Risk Intelligence, a Danish security intelligence firm. “The main problem is the level of uncertainty, which is always complicated for planning purposes.” Siebels said that up until the airstrikes, the Houthis had been sticking to targets that were connected to Israel. Since those strikes, the Houthis say they are targeting US and UK vessels, too, and since Friday two of the three vessels that were hit were US owned. The disruption is affecting raw materials and consumer goods all along the supply chain. Oil from countries such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia has been disrupted by in the chaos. At least 6 million barrels of crude from Iraq, the biggest Middle Eastern supplier to Europe through the Bab el-Mandeb, have been diverted. As many vessels take the long route around Africa, firms that provide ship fuel are reporting increased demand in African and Middle Eastern locations. In the gas market, suppliers have by and large stopped using the Suez Canal — through which any ship must also pass if it’s going through the Red Sea to cut between Europe and Asia. At least five liquefied natural gas carriers, some of which are controlled by export projects in Russia, turned away from the waterway this week and are heading toward the Atlantic, according tracking data. Two were transporting gas for Asian customers. Qatar rerouted four LNG shipments this week heading into the Red Sea, opting instead to go to Europe via the longer route around the southern tip of Africa, according to tracking data. All Japan’s top shipping lines have stopped transits for the time being. Others, including Torm, Stena Bulk and Hafnia, also announced they’ll steer clear. That’s in addition to the numerous container lines and other vessel owners that already diverted hundreds of ships before the airstrikes. Grain to China Until last week, bulk ships that carry commodities such as grain, coal and metals had seen relatively little impact, but now many of those vessels are also avoiding the route. Ships hauling about 1.6 million tons of grain and headed for the Suez Canal have been diverted to other routes in the last 3 weeks, said Kpler analyst Ishan Bhanu. Most of that will be crops heading south for consumers in China and southeast Asia. “We have increasingly more shipowners who won’t take new business via the Red Sea now,” said Vasilis Mouyis, joint managing director of Greece-based bulk shipping broker Doric Shipbrokers SA. The avoidance of the Red Sea isn’t universal. About a quarter of shipowners he works with are still willing to take business passing via the Red Sea, Mouyis said — but only if they get a good premium on rates. For some owners, ties to China and Russia appear to be helping their fleets secure safe passage. Some ships have even broadcast their links to China in an apparent attempt to avoid being targeted. Others may judge that the risk is simply worth taking. Read: Russia Oil Still Going Through Red Sea Despite Missiles As many as 114 vessels — including oil tankers, bulk carriers and container ships — passed into or out of the Red Sea through the narrow choke point between Friday and Monday, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down from 272 during the same period a month earlier. “Supply chains are going to have to invest to become more resilient to disruptions of this nature,” said Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at researcher MST Marquee. “Even in the unlikely event the Middle East conflict were to subside tomorrow, governments and business will need to reconsider their logistics and supply chains to be resilient to future such occurrences.” --With assistance from Yongchang Chin, Stephen Stapczynski, Brendan Murray, Jack Wittels, Justin Sink and Anthony Di Paola. (Updates with comments from US official, tracking data beginning in 10th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 16:08:31+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2639]}

{}

UBS to Sell Credit Suisse Distressed Debt Assets Individually

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubs-sell-credit-suisse-distressed-160831581.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG has moved away from Credit Suisse’s original plan to sell its $250 million distressed-debt business to a single bidder after it failed to attract enough interest, and is instead planning to dispose of the assets individually. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The sale was called off late last year because bids were scarce and too low, according to people familiar with the matter. The assets have been added to UBS’s special wind-down unit for Credit Suisse and are being sold on an individual basis, said the people, who asked not to be named as the details are private. Credit Suisse sought to exit distressed debt and special-situations trading earlier last year in an attempt to downsize and shore up confidence, just weeks before it was forced into the arms of its larger local rival in an emergency takeover. UBS is working through the assets inherited from Credit Suisse that it doesn’t want, which amounted to an estimated $77 billion as of the end of the third quarter A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment on the sales. The bank’s special situations and loan trading team was headed by Thomas Mathieson, and initial sale plans included the team being transferred to any firm that bought the assets, some of the people said. Following the failed sale process, the team was disbanded toward the end of last year as part of a bigger overhaul of UBS’s credit team following the merger. Read More: Credit Suisse Exits Distressed-Debt Trading in Risk Pullback Some of the debt of that book has already been sold, some of the people said. The portfolio had as many as 30 trading positions, including a revolving credit facility of struggling auto-parts maker Standard Profil Automotive GmbH, as well as travel firm Thomas Cook Group Plc, which collapsed in 2019. Story continues UBS is also struggling to offload the investment-banking franchise it inherited from Credit Suisse in China, as geopolitical tensions mount and the world’s second-largest economy endures a prolonged slowdown. Read More: UBS Finds Credit Suisse’s China Venture Tough to Unload --With assistance from Myriam Balezou. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 16:17:39+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3618]}

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Morgan Stanley and Carlyle Add to Forecasts of M&A Rebound

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-carlyle-add-forecasts-161739897.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- More Wall Street bosses are predicting the drought in mergers and acquisitions is set to ease, with Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick and David Rubenstein at Carlyle Group Inc. expecting deals will pick up if the Federal Reserve drives interest rates down. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap “They are going to start lowering at some point, when they are ready,” Pick, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “They are going to be prudent. They will be thoughtful,” Pick said. “And that kind of predictability is good for investment banking because you have these financial-sponsor portfolios that have been locked up that need to be liberated.” Last year’s surge in interest rates raised concern about a looming recession and depressed M&A activity, said Rubenstein, Carlyle’s co-founder and co-chairman. “Now the recession fears are gone, interest rates are coming down almost certainly very soon, so I think you’ll see a lot more M&A activity and a lot more private equity activity,” Rubenstein said in a separate interview with Bloomberg Television at Davos. Markets will be shocked if the Federal Reserve fails to cut rates before the US presidential election in November, he said. But the central bank is likely to want to get rate cuts out of the way sooner, to avoid accusations from Republicans of meddling in favor of Democrats, said Rubenstein, who hosts a Bloomberg TV show of his own. “I’d be very surprised if there isn’t some cut by March,” he said. The comments add to the upbeat tone at some of the biggest investment banks and private equity firms at the start of the year, a marked contrast from 2023 when deals slowed to a crawl. A pickup would be especially welcome in the private equity business, where sponsors and investors have found themselves stuck in older investments because they couldn’t find buyers or acceptable prices to help them exit. Story continues More Engagement Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon told analysts during the firm’s Jan. 16 earnings call he’s optimistic about dealmaking this year, including initial public offerings, “and we are, just across debt and equity issuance, seeing more activity, more engagement.” A recent flurry of acquisitions of infrastructure private equity firms reflects the appeal of the asset class, Rubenstein said. Further deals are likely because infrastructure offers relatively predictable rates of return that investors want, and many buyout shops don’t yet have big businesses in the asset class, he said. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s assessment was more nuanced, with Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum saying during the bank’s Jan. 12 earnings call, “We are starting the year with a healthy pipeline and we are encouraged by the level of capital markets activity. But announced M&A remains a headwind, and the extent as well as the timing of capital markets normalization remains uncertain.” --With assistance from Hannah Levitt. (Adds date for Goldman’s earnings call. A previous version corrected the headline to remove a reference to CEOs.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 16:19:18+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [92, 341, 469, 531, 605, 663, 727, 767, 1205, 1668, 1870, 2388, 2486, 2550, 2677, 3478]}

{"Bitcoin": [26]}

If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When ETFs Were Filed, Here's What You'd Have Today

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/invested-1-000-bitcoin-etfs-161918287.html

Benzinga

http://www.benzinga.com/

For the past several months, the main event in crypto has been the looming approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The new ETFs have gone through a lengthy application process with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with several amendments, meetings and lengthy filings — a process that has brought immense hype to Bitcoin. The ETFs are expected to bring a new host of investors to the token. This is because the ETFs improve upon the current Bitcoin ETFs, which use futures to loosely track the price of Bitcoin. This results in price discrepancies between the current ETFs and Bitcoin, as well as high fees. For example, The ProShares Bitcoin Trust (BITO) is up just over 100% in the last year, but Bitcoin is up well over 150%. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is another futures-linked ETF, and it charges fees of 2%. This is well above the average for ETFs. Don't Miss: This brokerage offers custom rewards for users to switch – the biggest reward so far for 1 user is $19,977.48. Will yours beat it ? The last-standing top crypto exchange without a major security breach offers what now? The spot ETFs hope to solve these issues. Instead of using futures, they will hold the Bitcoins themselves and use this to create shares of an ETF. This eliminates the price difference that exists with the current futures ETFs. Additionally, the spot ETFs have low fees, with most around 0.25%. Some ETFs also have incentives that offer smaller or even no fees for some of the first buyers. For example, the ARK and 21Share's ETF (ARKB) is offering no fees on the first $1 billion in transactions. While there have been several applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the past, most were denied or pulled back because of regulatory and infrastructure concerns. However, in April 2023, ARK and 21Shares announced a partnership to apply for their own spot Bitcoin ETF. This partnership was particularly notable due to ARK's expertise in technology ETFs and 21Shares’ expertise in crypto asset management. Story continues Several other applications came in the summer and fall of 2023, such as BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments, WisdomTree Inc., Grayscale Investments, Bitwise and VanEck. Trending: Don't buy the top this time around. Reboot your crypto portfolio today . As more companies applied, met with the SEC and discussed their ETFs publicly, the hype surrounding Bitcoin grew larger. For instance, when BlackRock submitted its application in June, the price of Bitcoin went up 5% within a week. If you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in April 2023 when ARK and 21Shares announced their application, you would have $1,654. On the day of the application, Bitcoin closed at $28,415. Earlier this week, the price briefly traded above $47,000, resulting in a 65% price increase. For reference, in the same timeframe, the Nasdaq Stock Market is up just over 30%, and Ethereum is up just over 21%. Read Next: Whether you have $10 or $10,000, you can start trading crypto today . Funders on this alternative asset platform are earning more than 14% annualized consignment profit funding Pro consignment opportunities. "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When ETFs Were Filed, Here's What You'd Have Today originally appeared on Benzinga.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

2024-01-18 16:36:08+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [6203]}

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Oil Traders Used State Firms as Fronts in Corrupt Ecuador Deals

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-traders-used-state-firms-163608648.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Three of the world’s top commodity trading houses used state oil companies from China, Thailand, Oman and Uruguay as fronts in their corrupt deals with Ecuador, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York has heard. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Gunvor Group, Vitol Group and Trafigura Group all used the government-owned oil companies of other countries to corruptly engineer favorable deals for themselves, according to testimony over the past week in the first major trial of a commodity trader in more than a decade. The case — in which a former Vitol trader is accused of bribing government officials to win business — has shone a new light on a frenzied period of corruption, as Ecuador struck billions of dollars of oil deals in the 2010s under the government of ex-President Rafael Correa. The culmination of a years-long US investigation, the details heard in court stand out even by the standards of the oil-trading industry, with its history of backhanders and brown envelopes. The testimony has shown how deals that were supposedly between two government entities, including some that involved multibillion-dollar loans, in fact were often being orchestrated behind the scenes by the traders and middlemen who stood to benefit from them, a process lubricated by millions of dollars in bribes. ‘The Front’ Nilsen Arias, who until mid-2017 was international trade manager at Petroecuador, testified that he had received bribes from numerous companies, including Vitol, Trafigura, Gunvor, Noble, Petredec and Sargeant Marine. He told the court that dealing directly with another state-owned company allowed him greater leeway than dealing with private companies, which required a public tender process. Arias described hearing that Vitol trader Javier Aguilar, the man on trial for engaging in a foreign bribery and money-laundering scheme, had found a “trustworthy state-owned company that could be the front in the negotiations.” The company would “act on behalf of Vitol, get the deal, and later hand it over to Vitol.” This company was Oman Trading International, owned by the government of Oman, that would go on to sign a deal to buy fuel oil from Ecuador in December 2016, including a $300 million advance payment. Story continues The negotiations between Oman and Ecuador were carefully managed by traders and middlemen, the court heard. For example, Antonio Pere, a consultant who admitted handling bribe payments for several trading companies, described how he drafted a letter from the chief executive of Oman Trading International to the general manager of Petroecuador. But the traders were careful to stay out of the limelight. On the day the contract was signed in Dubai in December 2016, Arias bumped into Aguilar in the lobby of his hotel and told him to stay away from the signing ceremony. Aguilar and Vitol paid bribes to Arias via Pere in connection with the Oman deal, both witnesses testified. Aguilar denies that, claiming he has been framed by a superior at Vitol. Vitol in 2020 admitted to having paid bribes in Ecuador and two other countries. There was no suggestion in the testimony in court that the state oil companies that were counterparties to deals with Petroecuador knew about or participated in the alleged corruption. OQ Trading, as Oman Trading International is now known, said it “has at all times acted in accordance with applicable law (including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) with regards to the Petroecuador contract and was not aware of, or involved in, any illegal activity purported to be undertaken by third parties. OQT remains committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in all aspects of our business.” Trafigura, Gunvor Arias and Pere testified that other major trading houses also used state oil companies as fronts in their dealings with Petroecuador. They said the first to do so was Trafigura, which used Uruguayan state energy company Ancap as a front for deals starting in 2010 in which it swapped crude oil for diesel and gasoline. Trafigura also paid bribes to Arias via Pere, the two men testified. “Those bribes were paid by Trafigura through a company in Uruguay, and then to one of my companies, and then to Nilsen Arias’s companies,” Pere said. Arias received approximately $200,000 in bribes in connection with the Trafigura deal, he said. Gunvor used Unipec, a unit of Chinese state giant Sinopec, and Thailand’s PTT as fronts, both Arias and Pere testified. A former trader for Gunvor, Raymond Kohut, earlier pleaded guilty to paying more than $22 million in bribes to Ecuadorian government officials. Gunvor has disclosed it faced a US investigation over bribery in Ecuador and booked a $650 million provision. A spokesperson for Gunvor declined to comment. A spokesperson for Trafigura said: “Trafigura is not a party to the case and will not comment on ongoing legal proceedings relating to other parties.” Spokespeople for Ancap, Sinopec, PTT, Noble and Petredec either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. Petroecuador’s oil deals with foreign state-owned companies have long been controversial in Ecuador. Fernando Villavicencio, a crusading journalist turned lawmaker, estimated after an investigation in 2022 that Petroecuador had lost $4.8 billion from selling its oil at below-market prices under contracts with state oil companies from China and Thailand. Petroecuador received more than $10 billion in loans in the loans-for-oil deals, he said in March 2022. Villavicencio was assassinated last year. The case is US v. Aguilar, 20-cr-390, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). --With assistance from Ken Parks, Sarah Chen, Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Ben Bartenstein. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 16:38:03+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2043]}

{}

Cold Snap Knocks Out 15% of US Gulf Coast Oil-Refining Capacity

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cold-snap-knocks-15-us-163803249.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Severe winter weather has shut about 15% of the US Gulf Coast’s oil-refining capacity, hampering a key hub for crude processing and exports. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback That’s about 1.5 million barrels a day of fuelmaking capacity offline as of Wednesday, according to data from Wood Mackenzie. Extreme cold can freeze lines and make equipment malfunction at Texas facilities not used to frigid conditions, while power outages can force entire plants to shut suddenly, according to Lee Williams, senior research analyst at the consultancy. The outages are likely to be short-lived, with temperatures — which had plunged below 20F earlier this week in Texas — already starting to rebound, Williams said. However, some of the shutdowns may run into a heavy spring maintenance season. The disruptions come at a time when refiners had ample supplies of fuel on hand, limiting the effect on prices. Gulf Coast inventories of gasoline and distillates had swelled by more than 14 million barrels in three weeks, government data show. Read More: U.S. REFINERY INSIGHTS: Texas Refineries Brace For Winter’s Bite US gasoline prices were at $3.094 a gallon, nearly 30 cents below this time last year, according to American Automobile Association pump prices. Though prices have risen in the past few days, that’s mostly due to oil’s increase. The cold snap has also shut in some crude output. As much as 550,000 barrels a day of oil production in North Dakota was offline as of Thursday. That’s down from as much as 700,000 barrels a day that was out on Wednesday. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 16:46:58+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2455]}

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Daiwa Readies Fixed-Income Trading Arm for Bond Market Revival

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daiwa-readies-fixed-income-trading-164658913.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Daiwa Securities Group Inc. is ramping up capabilities in Japanese fixed income as it gets ready for a long-awaited shift in monetary policy in the world’s third-biggest economy. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap “We’ve been preparing, we’re seeing people more interested with interest rates, so we will be allocating resources when we see it’s correct,” Keiko Tashiro, deputy president of Japan’s second largest brokerage, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Investors in Japan and overseas are paying more attention to rates in the country as the Bank of Japan begins to move away from yield-curve control and negative rates. “It’s been a dormant market for so long,” said Tashiro. Unlike the central banks of other developed countries, the Bank of Japan has so far kept its dovish monetary policy. More than two-thirds of economists polled in December expected the BOJ to scrap its negative rate by April. A revival in Japan’s bond market is seen boosting the fixed income business of financial firms, creating room for them to hire traders. Tashiro also said the firm would continue to expand in asset management. “There’s areas that we still need to move into,” she said. “If there’s expertise that we don’t have, we can’t bring in-house, we will be looking at partners.” The firm sees opportunities for its China joint venture, Tashiro said, though the capital markets there “still have a lot to learn from the US, from Japan and Europe.” Larger rival Nomura Holdings Inc. recently decided to overhaul its China business after losses there snowballed. Daiwa traded above book value for the first time in six years this week, amid a push in the country for companies to beat the metric. Japanese financial firms typically trade below book value, meaning it would theoretically be better for investors if the companies were dissolved and the assets sold off. Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 17:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1908]}

{}

US Mortgage Rates Fall to Lowest Level Since May

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-mortgage-rates-fall-lowest-170000970.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Mortgage rates in the US fell after two weeks of increases, dropping to the lowest level in almost eight months. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 6.6%, the lowest since May and down from 6.66% last week, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday. The reversal offers some reassurance for would-be buyers looking for a way into a deal as the housing market gets ready to enter its busiest season. But shoppers are likely to encounter high prices and bidding wars, thanks to a persistent shortage of listings across the country. This week’s decline in mortgage rates “is an encouraging development for the housing market and in particular first-time homebuyers who are sensitive to changes in housing affordability,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in the statement. “However, as purchase demand continues to thaw, it will put more pressure on already depleted inventory for sale.” That pressure should ease if rates fall significantly enough to give a critical mass of current homeowners — most of them holding onto sub-4% mortgages — an incentive to sell and find a new place. Mortgages may be volatile in the short term. While the Federal Reserve has signaled it expects to start cutting interest rates this year, traders recently have tempered their bets on how soon that might happen. Benchmark Treasury yields jumped this week after a series of strong economic reports. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 17:05:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3912]}

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Fed’s Bostic Urges Caution on Rate Cuts Amid Global Uncertainty

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-bostic-reiterates-view-rate-133251991.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic urged policymakers to proceed cautiously toward interest-rate cuts given the potential economic impact of unpredictable events ranging from elections at home to conflicts around the world. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot “In such an unpredictable environment, it would be unwise to lock in an emphatic approach to monetary policy,” Bostic said in prepared remarks Thursday at an event hosted by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. “That is why I believe we should allow events to continue to unfold before beginning the process of normalizing policy.” Bostic, who votes on monetary policy decisions this year, also said he wants to see more evidence that inflation is on track to reach the central bank’s 2% target. He currently doesn’t expect policymakers to cut interest rates until the third quarter. “My outlook right now is for our first cut to be sometime in the third quarter this year, and we’ll just have to see how the data progress,” Bostic said earlier on Thursday. He added that he would be open to moving sooner if inflation falls “well faster” than he expects. The worst outcome, he said, would be for policymakers to lower rates and have to raise them again later if inflation moves higher. “I’m expecting it’s going to be bumpy and because of that bumpiness I feel like we’ve got to be careful,” he said. “We do not want to go on these up and down or a back and forth pattern.” “I want us to be absolutely certain that inflation is where we need it to be before we move too dramatically,” he added. The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight meeting when policymakers gather Jan. 30-31. Bostic’s comments are among the last by Fed officials before the committee goes into a self-imposed communications blackout ahead of the gathering. Bostic underscored the “delicate balance” of monetary policy’s impact on the economy and labor market even after the Fed has stopped raising rates. “The time to seriously ponder how we arrive at that balance will quite likely soon be at hand if it is not already,” he said. Policymakers’ quarterly projections from December implied three interest-rate cuts in 2024 — or some 75 basis points of cuts – and Fed officials have pushed back against market expectations of imminent and deep rate reductions this year. Odds of a March cut have notably eased since Governor Christopher Waller said earlier this week that policy moves should be “carefully calibrated and not rushed.” Story continues Bostic, who was seen as among the more dovish Fed officials last year, has also repeatedly called for higher-for-longer tightening to ensure inflation returns to the committee’s 2% target. The economy is tracking to grow at a solid annualized rate of 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the Atlanta Fed’s latest estimate. While that would be a moderation from the blockbuster 4.9% pace seen in the third quarter, a resilient consumer continues to power the economy forward. Bostic also said “a bit more acceleration” in real wages shouldn’t necessarily spark a resurgence in inflation. The Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation has fallen sharply over the past year. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the core metric rose 1.9% in November on a six-month annualized basis — just below the Fed’s 2% target. (Adds new comments from Bostic throughout.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 17:08:53+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [11371]}

{}

Davos Live: Schwarzman Sees Rate Cuts Spurring ‘Animal Spirits’

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/davos-live-barclays-boss-defends-082451656.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman sees “animal spirits” returning to the finance sector and bankers including Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick anticipate lower interest rates unlocking deals, the latest upbeat signals from the business elite at the World Economic Forum. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Financiers appear to be shrugging off wars and political volatility at the gathering in Davos. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said he expects the Fed to cut rates eight times over the next two years and Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein declared that “the recession fears are gone.” Bloomberg’s team of reporters is bringing you the highlights of what’s happening on the ground. You can sign up for our daily newsletter here. And if you’re in Davos, don’t forget to drop by Bloomberg House. Register here. (Times CET) Talk of the Town Tech Push (5:45 p.m.) A Labour government will work with technology firms that want to list their shares in London, the party’s business spokesman told us, as the UK’s main opposition seeks to burnish its business credentials ahead of an election expected in the fall. Jonathan Reynolds said he had spoken to several tech companies wishing to list in Britain and was open to introducing incentives, citing measures deployed in France by President Emmanuel Macron. What Crisis? (5:30 p.m.) German Finance Minister Christian Lindner dismissed a suggestion that the government in Berlin is in crisis and said there’s no danger the unwieldy three-party coalition will split apart just over two years into its four-year term. The ruling alliance under Chancellor Olaf Scholz has managed the budget turmoil — triggered by a November court ruling that deprived the government of a critical funding tool — and is working hard to lift Europe’s biggest economy out of its current slump, Lindner told Bloomberg TV. Story continues “Of course growth is not satisfying, but others thought there would be a huge economic crisis in Germany and there hasn’t been anything like this.” he said. “Frankly the process of decision making could be more silent, could be faster, but in the end they are good decisions.” Market Harmony (5 p.m.) The boss of Germany’s biggest bank said Europe needs to push ahead with a project that has dragged on for decades to create a harmonized European capital market. Europe needs “the Capital Markets Union not only as the financing port for traditional industries, but actually as our chance to attract new industries like the tech industry,” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said on a panel moderated by Bloomberg’s Stephanie Flanders. Sewing, who also heads the European banking lobby EBF, has long been urging politicians to complete the project as a way to deepen the pool of potential investors across national borders. Buoyant Bankers (4:30 p.m.) It’s been a steady stream of positive messaging from finance executives. Goldman Sachs’ Richard Gnodde talked expansion, Andrea Orcel said he’s certain UniCredit will hit profitability goals and Carlyle’s Rubenstein — a Bloomberg contributor — predicted an M&A rebound. Morgan Stanley’s Pick told Bloomberg TV that he expects the Federal Reserve to be “prudent” and “thoughtful” when it comes to rate cuts, adding “that kind of predictability is very good for the core investment banking business.” Read more about the financial mood here: Morgan Stanley and Carlyle Add to Forecasts of M&A Rebound UniCredit CEO Certain of Hitting Targets Amid Global Turmoil Barclays CEO Defends Investment Bankers Ahead of Investor Day Uranium Stockpiles (10:45 a.m.) Back in the world of politics, it’s much less positive. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has continued accelerating its accumulation of uranium enriched close to weapons grade and now has enough of the material to produce several nuclear warheads. While the IAEA hasn’t detected any uranium diverted for weapons, the Persian Gulf nation’s stonewalling of investigators raises suspicions, Rafael Mariano Grossi told Bloomberg TV. “It is a very frustrating cycle,” he said. “We don’t understand why they don’t provide the necessary transparency.” Red Sea Turmoil (10:15 a.m.) The cost of insuring ships sailing through the Red Sea has gone up about tenfold, Marsh & McLennan CEO John Doyle said in a Bloomberg TV interview. Some shipowners aren’t willing to put their crew and their vessels through the vital waterway, he said. Doyle described the shipping sector globally as a major challenge at the moment for the clients that Marsh advises. Long Haul (9 a.m.) Speaking at the Ukraine breakfast discussion Thursday morning, Polish President Andrzej Duda warned Europe to be prepared to support Ukraine for a long fight against Russia, and that help should include confiscating Russian assets. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the country’s leaders were “encouraged and reassured” after meetings in Davos. He added that if frozen assets in the UK, Luxembourg and Switzerland were seized, there would be enough money to fix all of Ukraine’s damaged infrastructure. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated that UK is with Ukraine for as long as it takes and said he hopes EU and US will unlock funds soon. ‘Grow Up’ Democrats (9 a.m.) Dimon’s comments in a CNBC interview praising aspects of Donald Trump’s record in office will sting in the corridors of power in Washington and might reflect Wall Street’s openness to Trump 2.0. “Just take a step back, be honest,” Dimon said. “He’s kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration, he grew the economy quite well.” “He wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues and that’s why they’re voting for him,” he added, calling for more respect for Trump voters and urging people to think more about why citizens support him. “I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign,” Dimon said. Israeli Appeal Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the world to “work endlessly” to free the remaining 136 Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. He showed the audience a picture of the youngest captive, Kfir Bibas, who was born exactly one year ago on Thursday. Kfir was taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, together with his parents and brother, the Israeli president said. “We know that they are going through hell, and we don’t know their whereabouts,” he said. Herzog traveled to Davos with family members of Israeli hostages in an effort to step up pressure for their release. His appearance there was one of a series of Davos events drawing greater attention to Israeli and Jewish concerns. In Case You Missed It ECB officials who until recently had been wary of even discussing interest-rate cuts now look increasingly open to commencing them in June. French President Emmanuel Macron backed the issuance of joint European debt to pay for priorities including defense and technology in order to ensure Europe remains sovereign amid increasing competition with China and the US. There’s a repeated refrain from bankers in Davos this week, including the likes of JPMorgan’s Daniel Pinto and Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters: rein in your rate cut expectations. Too much debt — and the danger that global economies could take on even more of it — is troubling Davos participants confronting dangers posed by the year ahead. Davos After Dark A long queue of attendees waited for a spot at a McKinsey nightcap at the Ameron Hotel. Partners Sven Smit and Liz Hilton Segel enjoyed cocktails and food with global execs as a lively band dressed in silver and neon entertained the crowd, which included Unilever boss Hein Schumacher. The festivities aren’t all fun and games for some. Samir Mastaki and his partner Irina Biss waited two years to get a room at the Belvedere Hotel to host a party featuring minestrone and other delicacies in a bid to launch a business idea selling Italy-themed networking. It’s a big gamble. A room at the Belvedere — one of the top locations — can cost about 100,000 Swiss francs ($115,480) for just a few hours. And there’s competition everywhere. The couple attracted a relatively small crowd compared to a throbbing adjacent event hosted by tech company Hedera. While the entrepreneurs are hoping for big-name sponsors next year, the event on Wednesday only got minor supporters and guests were initially asked for about 5,000 francs for a seat. Many snuck in for free. AI Buzz High Stakes (2 p.m.) Sam Altman said that his dramatic and quickly-reversed firing from OpenAI was less nerve-wracking than the task of making artificial intelligence as capable as humans. Altman’s ouster by the board in November was “probably not the most stressful experience we ever face,” he said during a panel about technology in a turbulent world. The episode had taught the company to avoid letting “not-urgent problems” linger, the ChatGPT-maker’s chief executive officer and co-founder added. As the world gets closer to human-equivalent AI, “the stakes, the stress, the level of tension — that’s all going to go up,” Altman said. Accenture Hubs (8:30 a.m.) UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is planning to meet with executives from technology giants like Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. in Davos later today as part of a push to spur investment in Britain’s tech sector. It sounds like Accenture’s Julie Sweet is already on board. “The UK is an absolutely critical market for us” and “we see the UK as being a very important place for us to invest over the long term,” Sweet, who leads the consultancy giant’s nearly 750,000-person workforce as chairman and chief executive officer, told Bloomberg TV. Read More: Accenture to Open 10 AI Hubs Globally, Including One in London One of the 10 generative AI “innovation hubs” Accenture plans to open globally will be in London, she added. Just months after shedding 19,000 workers, Sweet’s firm announced plans to double the number of staffers that specialize in AI to 80,000, part of a three-year, $3 billion investment in Accenture’s data and AI practice. In the House Green Disconnect (9 a.m.) There’s plenty of money to be made by investing in the green energy transition, and financial professionals who say otherwise aren’t paying attention to the facts, according to Brookfield Asset Management Chair Mark Carney. Read More: Carney Sees ‘Massive Disconnect’ in Green Finance Rhetoric During a conversation at Bloomberg House on Wednesday, Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England who is also chair of Bloomberg Inc., highlighted what he called a “massive disconnect” between what some of the heavyweights of global finance are saying and the wave of money flowing into green projects. --With assistance from Chiara Albanese, Kateryna Chursina, Phil Serafino, Jonathan Tirone, Tom Metcalf, Sabah Meddings, Daryna Krasnolutska, Jessica Loudis, Jenny Surane and Katherine Griffiths. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 17:17:04+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2215]}

{}

Snow Storm From NYC to Washington Threatens to Snarl Friday Morning’s Commute

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/snow-storm-nyc-washington-threatens-125422435.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- A fast-moving storm will drop snow from New York to Washington on Friday, threatening to snarl traffic and public transit as commuters head to work. Already, extreme cold on Thursday prompted Amtrak to cancel a slew of trains. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Just days after ending its 701-day snow drought, New York City may get 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) before dawn and Washington as much as 2 inches, said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. The system will also fuel storms on the eastern sides of lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario. Over a dozen Acela trains within the Northeast Corridor have been canceled Thursday due to intense cold, Amtrak announced on its website. Read more: Can We Talk About the Weather? 5 Modern Terms to Know: QuickTake Lake effect snow warnings are up in Buffalo, where an additional 8 to 14 inches could fall in narrow bands east of Lake Erie. Further north on Ontario’s shores, as much as 22 inches could fall. Sunday’s National Football League game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in Orchard Park, New York, should kick off under cloudy skies and temperatures in the 20s F. In New York City, the snow will last through the day on Friday before tapering off overnight, so commuters may be slipping and sliding both going to and leaving work. The system is tracking across the central US, where winter weather advisories stretch from Montana to New Jersey and into the lower Mississippi River Valley. The system will be followed by an initial blast of cold before a gradual warm-up next week. Saturday night’s low in Central Park, under clear skies, is forecast to drop to 19F. --With assistance from Skylar Woodhouse and Kenneth Hughes. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 17:45:05+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3397]}

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Tiny NJ Broker Behind 2,000% IPOs Set to Return After Hiatus

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiny-nj-broker-behind-2-174505744.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- After leading the world’s wildest initial public offerings in 2022 — one soared 13,000% in its debut — little-known brokerage Network 1 Financial Securities Inc. is preparing to guide a group of microcap companies to US exchanges. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot The Red Bank, New Jersey-based firm is listed as the underwriter for the parent of Macau-based alcoholic beverage wholesaler Epsium Enterprise Ltd. and Brazilian snack-producer BRB Foods Inc. in filings within the past month, setting up a return after leading just one deal last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That comes after the firm was listed on filings to help companies like Chinese supplement maker AiXin Life International up-list from trading on the pink sheets in the US, deals that have yet to materialize. Network 1 captured Wall Street’s attention when tiny Chinese companies like garment maker Addentax Group Corp. became bigger than swaths of Corporate America before plunging in the following days. In 2022, the IPOs it worked on surged by an average of nearly 2,000% on their first day of trading, Bloomberg calculations show. Read more: Wall Street’s Mysterious 2,200% IPOs Come From Tiny N.J. Broker Now, its underwriting effort for Epsium and BRB comes as a financier linked to the company faces a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm was the banker for 17 deals in 2021 and 2022 with day-one pops ranging from Addentax’s 13,000% surge to a 48% plunge for Laser Photonics Corp. While those companies saw gut-wrenching swings in the opening hours and days on US exchanges, all but the three blank-check firms it underwrote are trading lower, with a median 88% plunge since going public, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Story continues Network 1, founded in 1983, has a history of run-ins with regulators that pre-date the booms and busts of the pandemic era. It paid fines for failing to detect suspicious transactions and insider trading as well as getting dinged by regulators for not developing written anti-money laundering programs, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s records show. More recently, the SEC accused Shawn Huang Shanchun, one of Network 1’s apparent indirect owners, of manipulating the price of blockchain-based e-commerce company Future Fintech Group Inc. before and after he became chief executive officer in 2020. Huang’s lawyer, Jacob Frenkel, said his client denied the allegations, that he will vigorously fight them and stated that Huang relied on the “advice and counsel of retained professionals in connection with his disclosure obligations.” The “case is just beginning, and we are a long way from any evidence being presented to a jury,” the statement continued. Network 1 was not named in the lawsuit. Representatives for Network 1, Huang and Future Fintech couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. --With assistance from Austin Weinstein and Kiuyan Wong. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 17:51:07+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [8940]}

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Clippers Arena Deal Dragged Into US Probe of California Fintech

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-probes-firm-tapped-turn-110115763.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Just ahead of the 2021 NBA season, Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft chief who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, announced a partnership with a California fintech that would make his team a leader in corporate environmentalism. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback The billionaire held a press conference to showcase how the deal with Aspiration, a company that offers carbon credits to businesses seeking to cut their climate footprints, would help make the Clippers’ new home “the most sustainable arena in the world.” In all, the firm would pay more than $300 million over two decades in a sponsorship deal, and even get its logo displayed on players’ jerseys. Two years later, the Clippers new 18,000-seat Intuit Dome is almost done and the basketball team says Aspiration is no longer a sponsor. Investigators from the Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking into whether Aspiration misled customers about the quality of carbon offsets it was selling, according to people familiar with the matter. Watchdogs are trying to clamp down on the fast-growing, opaque and lightly regulated market for voluntary carbon offsets — a critical tool for corporations looking to fulfill net-zero pledges. The marketplace has quadrupled in size since 2020 to about $2 billion, and Morgan Stanley estimates it could grow to $250 billion by 2050. Read More: Offset Market Hit by Fresh Allegations of False CO2 Claims In this booming trade, Aspiration acts as an intermediary — matching polluting companies looking to make good on green pledges with sellers of carbon credits or investment opportunities. As part of its deal with the Clippers, the firm would also manage a so-called planet-protection fund where fans would pay a fee when they purchase tickets to offset their own pollution. Story continues The agreement with the basketball team is just one of the areas of business that investigators are scrutinizing as they look for potential misconduct by Aspiration, said one of the people who asked not to be identified because the probes aren’t public. Carbon Credits In a statement, Aspiration said, “we take our work in the climate-action category seriously, and are openly and transparently engaging with the government regarding our company and market standards.” The company added that it “has delivered carbon credits to the Clippers over the past several years, and based on ongoing obligations will continue to source and deliver credits annually through the last delivery in 2043.” Since the firm’s most recent chief executive officer left in October, the company has been managed by a senior executive team as the board of directors vets potential replacements, according to a person close to the company, who asked not to be identified discussing the arrangement. Representatives for the Justice Department and the CFTC declined to comment on the investigations. There’s no indication that US authorities are scrutinizing conduct by the Clippers or Ballmer for wrongdoing. The probes are ongoing, and investigations don’t necessarily lead to government charges. Ballmer referred a request for comment to the basketball team. The Clippers said in a statement that “the sponsorship agreement entered into between Aspiration and the LA Clippers was terminated by the team last season. This is no way relieves Aspiration from the obligations they are under contract to provide.” The team didn’t say why the agreement was ended. The people familiar with the probe said authorities are also reviewing the actions of Aspiration’s co-founders, Joseph Sanberg, who was an early investor in meal delivery service Blue Apron, and Andrei Cherny, a former speechwriter in the Bill Clinton White House who is running for Congress as a Democrat in Arizona. Neither is currently an executive at Aspiration, but Cherny was its chief executive until 2022. In a statement, Cherny said he is proud of his work “to promote cutting-edge solutions at Aspiration.” “The carbon removal credit industry is an emerging industry and deserves to be regulated and scrutinized to ensure it is as effective as possible,” he added. “I have no knowledge whatsoever of any wrongdoing at Aspiration and will fully cooperate with this inquiry.” Sanberg, whose lawyer says he remains on Aspiration’s board, declined to comment. Federal Crackdown The federal investigations into Aspiration are part of a crackdown on the voluntary carbon-credit market. The CFTC, which polices financial derivatives, has signaled an increased focus by calling for whistleblower tips and assembling a task force to root out misconduct in the industry. In December, the regulator proposed guidance detailing how its rules apply to exchanges listing voluntary carbon-credit derivatives for trading. The agency said at the time that the goal is to improve transparency and the integrity of the fast-growing market. Aspiration says it offers a variety of green products and services, including selling carbon credits from projects it invests in and purchasing credits on the open market. The Marina del Rey, California-based firm, whose celebrity backers have included Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr., says it is setting “a new standard for the carbon market” with industry-leading products that correspond to about 400 million carbon credits from high-impact projects. The company has also said it’s partnered with major technology and financial companies, in addition to sports teams. Representatives for DiCaprio and Downey Jr. didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. LA Sports History The promise of the carbon offsets looked much rosier in September 2021, when Ballmer held a press conference with Sanberg, one of Aspiration’s co-founders, to announce the Clippers partnership. Their deal would “change the course of Los Angeles sports history and all global sports history” by “turning sports into a tool to fight the climate crisis,” said Sanberg. Per the terms of the deal made at the time, Aspiration would have a suite at the Staples Center, which has since been renamed the Crypto.com Arena, while the new Intuit Dome was being constructed. The company would also get advertising space throughout the arena, according to a copy of a 2021 contract filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Clippers would implement a new ticket fee and those proceeds would be transferred to Aspiration for carbon credits to offset the environmental impact of fans traveling to the arena for games, according to the contract. Aspiration would also get money from the team to offset the Clippers’ own emissions. Jersey Patch At its height, Aspiration had hundreds of employees and contractors spread across multiple states. Since late 2022, however, Aspiration has fired a chunk of its staff in a broad corporate reorganization. Last March, the company said in a California state filing that it was letting go of 180 people. At the same time, the firm’s bid to go public by merging with a blank check company was scuttled as special purpose acquisition companies fell out of favor more generally. The potential deal was valued at as much as $2.3 billion and its backers included Ballmer and Oaktree Capital Management. Meanwhile, the company is also involved in litigation over $30 million it allegedly paid for a carbon-credit project in Brazil that never materialized. Sanberg is currently embroiled in a lawsuit over $145 million he borrowed in 2021 and allegedly defaulted on. As collateral, Sanberg said he pledged nearly all his shares in Aspiration, which had given him the right to two board seats — his own and one that has been occupied by former NAACP president Ben Jealous, who now serves as executive director of the Sierra Club, according to court documents Sanberg filed. In response to a request for comment, Jealous said he recently resigned from the boards of Aspiration and other companies to focus more on teaching and advocacy. The Intuit Dome, which is set to open in time for next season and could cost $2 billion, will host the 2026 NBA all star game. The Clippers are off to an impressive start this season, sitting atop the NBA’s Pacific Division, but their jerseys that would have been emblazoned with Aspiration’s brand are instead again advertising Honey, an online coupon site acquired by PayPal Holdings Inc. in 2020. --With assistance from Austin Weinstein and Maxwell Adler. (Updates with CFTC proposed guidance in 17th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 17:51:11+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [14], "BTC": [23, 288]}

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Several Reasons to Target Marathon Digital Stock

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/several-reasons-target-marathon-digital-175111978.html

Schaeffer's Investment Research

https://www.schaeffersresearch.com/

Thanks to the Bitcoin (BTC) renaissance , Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) closed the book on 2023 with an emphatic two-year high of $31.30 on Dec. 27.  However, over the last 30 days, MARA has shed more than 22%, and was last seen 2.4% lower at $16.84, moving in tandem with BTC -- down 2.1% this afternoon as well. The silver lining: this recent pullback has placed the stock near historically bullish trendline, if past is precedent. More specifically, Marathon Digital stock just ran into its 50-day moving average, after trading above it since mid-November. According to data from Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, seven similar signals occurred during the past three years. MARA averaged a 15.4% return in 57% of said instances. A similar move from its current perch would put the security at around $19.43, roughly halving its 30.9% year-to-date deficit. MARA Chart January 182024 It's also worth noting that the MARA's Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 32 is on the cusp of "oversold" territory, indicating a short-term bounce could be in the cards. What's more, short interest is down 8.4% over the last month, yet the 45.84 million shares sold short account for 21.2% of the stock's total available float. Despite a 137.5% year-over-year lead just two covering brokerages recommend a "strong buy," while the remaining seven rate the equity a "hold" or worse. Before the open yesterday, BTIG raised its rating on Marathon Digital stock to "buy" from "neutral." and a further unwinding of analysts' pessimism could provide additional tailwinds. A change of sentiment in the options pits could also fuel gains. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OM X PHLX (PHLX), MARA's 10-day put call ratio of 0.74 ranks in the 95th percentile of annual readings. Echoing this, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.83 stands in the slightly elevated 73rd percentile of reading from the past 12 months. All of this to say, puts have been extremely popular of late. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 122% stands in the relatively low 33rd percentile of its annual range, as well, implying that options players are pricing in lower-than-usual volatility expectations than usual at the moment. Furthermore, the security's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at a 73 out of 100, meaning MARA tended these volatility expectations during the past year. View comments

2024-01-18 17:56:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1930]}

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A Trump Reelection Is Seen as Boosting Fannie, Freddie Shares

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-reelection-seen-boosting-fannie-175656160.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses has reignited investor optimism that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are once again on the road to privatization. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Apple to Sell Watches Without Oxygen Feature After Legal Setback Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George upgraded the pair to market perform from underperform saying the stocks could continue to climb in the near-term on the chances of a close election. The stocks of both firms — which trade over-the-counter for about $1 apiece — rallied more than 10% over the two trading sessions following Trump’s Iowa win. During his presidential term, Trump backed an attempt to free the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship. “While we believe the challenging logistics associated with privatizing the GSEs make the likelihood of privatization relatively low, history suggests that the market believes a Trump administration could potentially accomplish GSE privatization,” George wrote in a note. “Even if there is a change in the White House and GSE recapitalization efforts resume, we see limited longer-term value in the common shares,” the KBW analyst added. Read More: Trump-Tied SPAC Jumps After Former President’s Big Iowa Win Separately, Odeon Capital analyst Dick Bove wrote that movement in the stocks “has always been all about politics.” “The game appears to be on again,” Bove said. “The prices of the stocks in these companies are now tied to Mr. Trump’s election chances.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 18:24:42+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3904]}

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Big-Tech Rally Heats Up, Breeding Overcrowding Fears

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-tech-rally-heats-breeding-182442876.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- After being caught flat-footed early last year, fund managers have gone all-in on technology stocks — so much so that it’s sparking warnings that the Nasdaq 100 Index is looking ever more vulnerable to investor pullbacks. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot There are ample signs that investor euphoria around Big Tech is running high amid bets that the Federal Reserve will deliver a rapid series of interest-rate cuts in the coming months. Hedge funds hold the highest level of net-long Nasdaq 100 futures in nearly seven years, according to Societe Generale’s weighted analysis of data on the Nasdaq 100 Index futures and e-mini contracts provided by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Meanwhile, a global fund manager survey from Bank of America Corp. this month showed the most crowded trade is being long the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks and other tech-related growth shares as a way to play the prospect of Fed easing. The positioning looked good on Thursday, with strength in tech shares pushing the Nasdaq 100 up as much as 1.4%. But it also raises the stakes for the coming weeks as investors parse quarterly earnings for a fresh reading on the sector’s growth prospects. “Investors feel obliged to have a very strong weighting on the Nasdaq 100,” said Arthur van Slooten, a global asset allocation strategist at Societe Generale. “Obviously the performance is good. But the other reason is if they are not sufficiently weighted on the Nasdaq 100, they will probably underperform their equity benchmark.” The heavy exposure also means “the potential downside is bigger,” he said. January Outperformance Coming off a 54% surge in 2023, its best performance since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, the Nasdaq 100 is outpacing other major US benchmarks in January with a slight gain. Story continues It lost some steam at the start of the month as solid economic data and remarks from Fed officials led traders to trim wagers on a rate cut as soon as this quarter. The Cboe NDX Volatility Index — a measure of expected turbulence in the tech-heavy benchmark — is around its highest since November, a sign of demand for options to hedge against declines in the underlying gauge. At Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisors, Pascal Koeppel is keeping his sector holding neutral, on the view that the rate of growth of megacap tech firms has peaked. “Investors are really overexposed to tech,” said the firm’s chief investment officer. “Can tech companies repeat the growth that they had in the last 10 years into the next 10 years? I don’t know the answer, but the probability is lower that they will have this abnormally high growth.” Even so, UBS Group AG expects artificial intelligence — a major driver behind last year’s rally — to serve as a tailwind to stocks for years to come. The firm sees AI industry revenue growing soaring to some $420 billion by 2027, to some $420 billion, from $28 billion in 2022. For Ayako Yoshioka, senior portfolio manager at Wealth Enhancement Group, it’s still a bigger risk to be underweight the sector than overweight because the growing array of ways that AI can be used will further propel companies like Nvidia Corp. “Tech definitely is a little bit overvalued now,” said Yoshioka, who oversees around $700 million and has been overweight tech for at least the last five years. Still “we remain overweight. We’re going to take some pain in the near term, but I think that’s going to be offset.” Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 18:36:20+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2804]}

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Meta’s Clegg Wants Standards on Watermarking for Generative AI

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-clegg-wants-standards-watermarking-183620836.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Regulators hoping to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence should prioritize new rules and technologies for detecting AI-generated content, said Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta Platforms Inc. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump Aligning the industry on common standards to identify AI-generated content, such as by watermarking images and videos, should be the issue “in the front of the queue,” Clegg said, speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. “That does not exist at the moment. Each company is doing their own thing,” he added. “That’s the most urgent task facing us today.” Read more: Regulate AI? How US, EU and China Are Going About It: QuickTake Online tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E image generator are now easily accessible to millions of people who can use them to instantly create text or images based on a simple prompt. Currently, there’s no way to determine if the resulting text or photo has been auto-generated unless its creator shares that information. The technological capabilities have raised a slew of questions and concerns, especially about the ability to create misinformation or images that look real but are actually altered if not completely fabricated, content that’s commonly referred to as “deepfakes.” Meta has had a “manipulated media” policy for years. It removes AI-generated content that’s intentionally misleading or has been altered “in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say,” according to the company’s policy. While deepfakes can pose a threat, Clegg said, AI has also helped Meta detect and remove other types of content, like hate speech, at a massive scale. “It’s a sword and shield,” he said. The discussion in Davos also pivoted to AI access, and whether these new technologies should be built and controlled by large tech companies, or be more readily available to individual developers by making them open source. Clegg argued vehemently that open source is the more responsible path, and it’s also Meta’s approach to its own AI technologies. There is “absolutely no reason” why the technology “should be kept under lock and key by a few handful of very rich corporations,” he said. Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 18:43:43+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [970, 989, 1238], "BTC": [5614]}

{}

Donald Trump Is the Latest Republican to Use CBDCs as a Dog Whistle

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-latest-republican-cbdcs-184343133.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

With Donald Trump romping to victory in Iowa’s caucus on Monday and taking the stump in New Hampshire, the next primary battleground, “45” made a strong statement about digital currency: he’s against it. At least the government-issued kind, in the form of a central bank digital currency (CBDC): “Tonight, I’m also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” he said Wednesday night. “A digital currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money. They could take your money [and] you wouldn’t even know that it was gone. This would be a dangerous threat to freedom and I would stop it,” Trump added. JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Donald Trump says "As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money." pic.twitter.com/lSE2AGYgOm — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 18, 2024 Trump joins many other leading Republicans in coming out against a CBDC. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who came second to Trump in Iowa, was the first major candidate to speak out in opposition. Vivek Ramaswamy, a Bitcoin advocate, has said “hell no” to one. Tom Emmer, the House Whip, introduced a bill in Congress to ban a U.S. CBDC. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas did something similar in the upper chamber. North Carolina's House of Representatives passed a bill to outlaw a so-called “digital dollar” there. Trump’s opposition to a CBDC may be prompted by Ramaswamy’s endorsement of his candidacy following the latter’s poor showing in Iowa. But, Trump’s opposition to a CBDC is a little curious, given everything else happening in the U.S. and the world at the moment. The Federal Reserve currently has no actual plans for a CBDC. The most any U.S. official has said in support is to say the United States should be investigating and testing the idea. Trump is dismissing a government policy that isn’t currently a government policy and doesn’t look like becoming a policy any time soon. In fact, he nodded to this strange reality in the speech, acknowledging that many in the audience might not know much about CBDCs, one of the more arcane and slow-moving innovation areas of the digital currency landscape. Read more: Emily Parker – Central Bank Digital Currencies Are Unexpectedly Becoming a Presidential Election Issue “I didn’t know you knew so much,” Trump said as the crowd cheered. “New Hampshire – very smart people. Very current. You know what they are doing.” [“They” being the federal government.] Story continues It’s true that CBDCs are a popular proposal in many other countries. China, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria have already introduced working CBDCs. Central bankers in Brazil, China, the Euro area, India and the U.K. are further along in the research and development phases of launching CBDCs. More than 100 countries are in the exploration stage, according to the International Monetary Fund . So why is Trump speaking on an issue that voters seem not to care greatly about, an issue that isn’t particularly “live” as a substantial real-world possibility? My colleague, Emily Parker, looked into the debate in May last year and predicted it would become a talking point on the campaign trail. “Expect this CBDC issue to become a presidential campaign talking point,” Ron Hammond, director of government relations at Blockchain Association, told Parker. “Perfect intersection of fear of government, China and finance collapse with the bank crisis.” In other words, a CBDC, which would see the Federal Reserve issue a digital version of the greenbacks in your wallet, is a dog-whistle issue. Speaking about it allows candidates to display their opposition to government interference, while implicitly aligning themselves with the cause of personal freedom. Cash, while less useful monetarily, is a tangible form of self-sovereignty. A dollar in your pocket is the ultimate “bearer asset;” it can only be taken away by persuasion, or force. It’s an open question whether a U.S. CBDC would really give the government control over your money. It would depend on how the dollar was issued and who would have access to the wallets it was stored in. Advocates for a digital dollar, including former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Chris Giancarlo, who leads the pro-CBDC Digital Dollar Project, argue that it could be privacy-protecting, while advancing financial inclusion and promotion of the dollar (and U.S. power) around the world. It seems likely, if a CBDC was enacted here, that it would be “intermediated” by the private sector, notably by stablecoin issuers, such as Circle, the company behind USDC, which has a roughly $25 billion market cap and plenty of adoption around the world. But it also seems likely the Federal Reserve would protect its role as a censor of certain undesirable transactions, including money laundering and terrorist financing. That power would open the door to officials arbitrarily block transactions it doesn’t approve of, giving us an “Operation Choke Point” on steroids. But, again, this is all largely conjecture. There’s no concrete policy on CBDCs currently for us to debate. Still, Trump’s blanket opposition to a CBDC could have real consequences. It’s likely to make introducing one more difficult and to make Circle’s, and other stablecoin issuers’, lives easier (Circle is against a government-controlled CBDC , for obvious reasons). What that means for permissionless cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin [BTC], is another open question. Politico argued recently that Trump 2.0 would be good for crypto, releasing the shackles placed on the industry following 2022’s epic scandals (“Donald Trump may be crypto’s unexpected savior.”) But, again, this is all conjecture. Trump was said to be a better candidate for crypto in 2016 and turned out fiercely against financial freedom when he got into the office. As with most things Trump says: Take it with a pinch of salt. But, given the lockstep opposition to CBDCs in Republican circles now, don’t go betting on a digital dollar anytime soon. There are few votes available for coming out in favor of one, but there may be plenty of political hay to be made in opposition to one.

2024-01-18 18:47:02+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2446]}

{}

Spirit Slumps Again Despite Pledge to Shore Up Its Balance Sheet

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spirit-slumps-again-despite-pledge-164132783.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Spirit Airlines Inc. tumbled again as investors took little solace from a pledge by the airline to strengthen its balance sheet in the wake of a failed takeover of the deep-discount carrier. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot The stock has sunk more than 70% since a judicial ruling on Jan. 16 blocking JetBlue Airways Corp.’s $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit. The shares fell 25% to $4.62 as of 1:38 p.m. Thursday in New York after declining as much as 34% — the third straight drop since the court decision and fifth overall. The continued declines come even as the carrier issued a statement saying it was disappointed by the verdict but expressed confidence in its strength and strategy. “Spirit has been taking, and will continue to take, prudent steps to ensure the strength of its balance sheet and ongoing operations,” it said. Spirit has taken some actions along those lines, including pacing the cadence of new aircraft deliveries through 2030 and slowing near-term growth in capacity. It’s also looking into ways to cut $100 million in structural costs this year. The Wall Street Journal reported the company is considering restructuring options to address its financial challenges following the collapse of its deal with JetBlue, citing people familiar with the matter. Citi downgraded Spirit to “sell” from “neutral,” noting other suitors for the airline may balk at a debt load that has jumped over the past two years from $3.3 billion to $5.5 billion. “Although it would be hard to rule out entirely the appearance of other Spirit Airlines suitors, a new bid seems unlikely without the carrier first restructuring its debt,” Citi said in a research note by analysts led by Stephen Trent. Story continues JetBlue and Spirit have not disclosed any plans to appeal the ruling but have said they are evaluating their legal options. --With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein and Peyton Forte. (Updates shares from second paragraph; Adds report on potentential restructuring options.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 19:02:01+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1067, 1913]}

{}

Coinbase Global Inc Faces a 1.15% Impact in Catherine Wood's Latest Portfolio Adjustments

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-global-inc-faces-1-190201222.html

GuruFocus.com

http://www.gurufocus.com/

ARK Investment Management's Q4 2023 13F Filing Reveals Strategic Moves Catherine Wood ( Trades , Portfolio ), the visionary founder of ARK Investment Management, has recently disclosed her 13F filing for the fourth quarter of 2023. With a career spanning over four decades, Wood has established herself as a leading figure in the investment world, focusing on disruptive innovation. As ARK's chief investment officer and portfolio manager, she has been instrumental in shaping the firm's investment philosophy, which is rooted in the potential of technological advancements such as AI, robotics, and blockchain. Her latest portfolio adjustments offer a glimpse into her strategic thinking in the face of evolving market dynamics. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with COIN. Coinbase Global Inc Faces a 1.15% Impact in Catherine Wood's Latest Portfolio Adjustments Summary of New Buys Catherine Wood ( Trades , Portfolio ) has expanded her portfolio with new positions in the fourth quarter. Notably, she has made a significant investment in: ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF ( BITO ), purchasing 4,549,207 shares. This addition represents 0.55% of the portfolio, with a total value of $93.21 million. Key Position Increases Wood has also bolstered her stakes in several companies, with noteworthy increases in: The Trade Desk Inc ( NASDAQ:TTD ), where she added 1,979,319 shares, bringing the total to 2,149,654 shares. This represents a substantial 1,162.02% increase in share count and a 0.85% impact on the current portfolio, valued at $154.69 million. Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc ( NASDAQ:RXRX ), with an additional 13,777,689 shares, resulting in a total of 20,654,287 shares. This adjustment marks a 200.36% increase in share count, with a total value of $203.65 million. Summary of Sold Out Positions During the quarter, Wood decided to exit several positions entirely, including: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ( GBTC ), selling all 5,630,602 shares, which had a -0.83% impact on the portfolio. General Motors Co ( NYSE:GM ), liquidating all 293,043 shares, resulting in a -0.07% portfolio impact. Story continues Key Position Reductions Reductions were also a part of Wood's Q4 strategy, with significant cuts in: Coinbase Global Inc ( NASDAQ:COIN ), reducing her stake by 2,003,881 shares. This led to an 18.9% decrease in shares and a -1.15% impact on the portfolio. COIN's average trading price was $109.2 during the quarter, with a 75.20% return over the past three months and a -25.53% year-to-date performance. Tesla Inc ( NASDAQ:TSLA ), cutting back by 276,132 shares, equating to a -6.77% reduction in shares and a -0.53% impact on the portfolio. TSLA traded at an average price of $237.66 during the quarter, with a -13.74% return over the past three months and a -15.76% year-to-date return. Portfolio Overview As of the fourth quarter of 2023, Catherine Wood ( Trades , Portfolio )'s portfolio is composed of 221 stocks. The top holdings include 8.86% in Coinbase Global Inc ( NASDAQ:COIN ), 6.39% in UiPath Inc ( NYSE:PATH ), 5.6% in Tesla Inc ( NASDAQ:TSLA ), 5.45% in Block Inc ( NYSE:SQ ), and 5.17% in Roku Inc ( NASDAQ:ROKU ). The investments are predominantly concentrated in nine industries: Technology, Healthcare, Communication Services, Financial Services, Consumer Cyclical, Industrials, Energy, Consumer Defensive, and Basic Materials. Coinbase Global Inc Faces a 1.15% Impact in Catherine Wood's Latest Portfolio Adjustments Coinbase Global Inc Faces a 1.15% Impact in Catherine Wood's Latest Portfolio Adjustments This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein. This article first appeared on GuruFocus .

2024-01-18 19:27:37+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4745]}

{}

Mexico and Hungary Add to Emerging-Market Debt Sale Frenzy

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mexico-hungary-selling-eurobonds-latest-141719982.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico and Hungary are tapping global bond markets for the second time this year as developing nations continue to test investor appetite even amid a broad selloff in risk assets. Most Read from Bloomberg Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Pakistan’s Army Strikes Back at Iran as Both Sides Urge Calm Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Mexico raised €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in sustainable sovereign notes due in eight years at a 4.49% coupon, according to a government statement. The bonds priced Thursday at a spread of about 180 basis points over mid-swaps, tightening from initial price talks of 210 basis points, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it. The offer comes just weeks after the Latin American country sold $7.5 billion in global dollar notes in its largest deal ever. Mexico has $10 billion outstanding in global markets that is linked to sustainable development goals, the official statement reads. Hungary, meanwhile, sold €1.5 billion in green Eurobonds at a spread of about 160 basis points over midswaps, according to a person familiar with the matter. That’s on top of $2.5 billion in debt raised from international investors earlier this month. The sales put the country on track to exceed its foreign-currency debt plan for the first half of 2024, according to a presentation published Thursday. It is also planning Samurai and Panda bond issuances in the second half of the year. Debt sales are piling up across emerging markets — Chile, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia and a handful of companies have all tapped markets so far in 2024, and Ivory Coast is also planning sub-Saharan Africa’s first eurobond sale in almost two years next week. Developing nation governments and corporates have issued around $59 billion in hard currency notes so far this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “After a slow 2023, this year promises to be a lot more active,” said Mauro Favini, a senior portfolio manager at The Vanguard Group. “Fiscal needs have risen, and outright yields have come down. The combination of these factors provides to be a really good environment for supply.” The deluge comes even as emerging markets assets slide with policymakers from the US to Europe pushing back on bets for interest-rate cuts ahead, forcing traders to adjust positions. While the backdrop for risky assets has deteriorated, countries like Mexico and Hungary are jumping at the chance to issue now instead of risking worsened conditions amid a swath of elections and geopolitical conflicts. Story continues Read More: Traders Heed Central Bank Pushback Against Bold Rate-Cut Bets Hungary’s Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said earlier this month the nation had decided to tap markets early in case the favorable yield environment changes. The country likely wanted to take advantage of a respite in its dispute with the European Union, Viktor Szabo, investment director for emerging markets debt at Abrdn, said Thursday. The European Commission last month decided to release to Hungary €10.2 billion, a third of the funds that were blocked a year earlier for democratic backsliding and graft under Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s rule. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the €20 billion still frozen will “remain blocked until Hungary fulfills all the necessary conditions,” including on LGBTQ and asylum rights. “The release of EU funds and the Green issuance together will probably boost demand, it’s good timing,” Szabo said, adding that a rise in US Treasury yields also forced issuers into action. Read More: EU Assembly Boosts Pressure to Withhold Funds from Orban In Mexico, the sales are key as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ramps up spending for his final year in office. The nation will post its largest fiscal deficit since 1988 as AMLO increases cash aid programs and seeks to finish landmark projects ahead of June elections. That’s a major shift from his previous fiscal austerity, which acted as a stabilizer for the currency in recent years. “Financing requirements this year are relatively higher for Mexico,” said XP senior strategist Marco Oviedo. “They probably want to tap the external channels as much as possible to avoid over pressuring the domestic markets.” --With assistance from Vinícius Andrade. (Updates with coupon amount, official statement in second paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 19:55:04+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1661]}

{}

U.S. ETF launches set early record in 2024, helped by spot bitcoin funds

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-etf-launches-set-early-195504204.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Suzanne McGee (Reuters) - The much anticipated U.S. debut of 11 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to spot bitcoin has contributed to a record start to the new year for ETF launches, data from issuers and analysts showed. A total of 35 new ETFs made their debut in the first two weeks of 2024, compared to the previous record of 23 set in 2022 and only seven in the same period last year. The early 2024 number includes nine newly-created spot bitcoin ETFs and two spot bitcoin ETF conversions. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, believes the “great start” to the year will help total annual 2024 launches eclipse last year’s record, which hit 520 last year, according to Morningstar. Nine of the new ETFs, launched Jan. 2 by Innovator ETFs and PGIM Investments, are so-called defined outcome products that seek to offer a degree of downside protection in stocks while also capping upside performance. RexShares, meanwhile, launched three ETFs that use leverage to deliver a multiple of the rise or fall of an index or stocks such as Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc. This week, Calamos Investments LLC rolled out its third ETF, the Calamos CEF Income & Arbitrage ETF, an actively-managed fund that invests in closed-end mutual funds. Calamos said in a press release that it has "several more ETFs on the horizon." Competing for attention and investor dollars with the much-anticipated spot bitcoin ETFs may have been a tough proposition for some of the funds, said Todd Sohn, ETF analyst at Strategas. The spot bitcoin funds drew $1.9 billion in asset inflows in their first three days, collectively outpacing the post-launch flows into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which pulled in a record $1.2 billion in the first three days of trading after its 2021 debut. F/m Investments launched a suite of ETFs tied to a newly-designed index tracking investment-grade bonds last week. The firm only issued a press release and began marketing the funds this week, however, hoping the new issues would garner more attention after the bitcoin ETFs had already launched, a spokesperson for the company said. He added that in spite of the relative lack of publicity or marketing, they have attracted inflows of $34 million so far. Story continues "If you were seeking your moment in the spotlight, this was not a great time to launch," Sohn said. (This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 6) (Reporting by Suzanne McGee, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

2024-01-18 20:00:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1760]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin spot ETF volume rose, Coinbase went to court, Solana Mobile announces new device and Google cuts crypto apps in India

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-spot-etf-volume-rose-200050761.html

TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/

Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. Alongside our regularly scheduled news bits, I’ll be testing out some recurring segments and features — so if you do (or don’t) like what you see, let me know at [email protected] . To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here . A lot of news transpired in the wild world of web3: Solana Mobile’s new device brought in over 30,000 preorders, the highly anticipated Electric Capital developer report showed good — and bad — news for developers, Coinbase went to court and India faced more crypto woes. More details below. This week in web3 Buying frenzy for Solana Mobile’s second phone drives preorders sky high Coinbase argues for motion to dismiss SEC’s ‘securities violation’ allegations Number of monthly active crypto devs fell 25% in 2023 Google pulls Binance, other global crypto apps from India store How low can bitcoin ETF fees drop before it hurts a business? Crunching numbers As the crypto space soaks in the spot bitcoin ETF approval from last week, trading volumes across all 11 issuers hit $11.95 billion with assets in aggregate around $27.7 billion within four days, according to a post on X by James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Prior to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETFs, some experts told me they expected trading volumes to hit $10 billion in a year , not a week. So it’s safe to say these numbers are way ahead of the previously anticipated demand. Our favorite web3 post on X Franklin Templeton, a 77-year-old firm, which manages over $1.4 trillion in AUM, has a PFP with laser eyes (a nod to the Bitcoin community) and is posting about memecoins like dogwifhat. Bet you didn’t have that on your 2024 bingo card. You are unsure how to feel about Laser Eye Ben? Just think instead of Ben wif hat — Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) January 17, 2024 The latest pod For this week’s episode , I interviewed Monica Long, the president of Ripple, a blockchain-based digital payment network and protocol. Story continues Ripple has been around since 2012 and is one of the oldest crypto entities. Monica has spent the last 10 years at Ripple, working her way up from the director of communications to now, president. We talked about Monica’s career growth, cross-border payments, traditional finance and the need for regulatory clarity. We also dove into Ripple’s suit with the SEC, the XRP Ledger, its focus for 2024 and advice for the community. Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear! Follow the money Inception Capital closes flagship $30M fund of funds focused on crypto emerging managers. Staking technology provider Kiln raises $17 million in rare crypto funding round COTI launches $25M ecosystem growth fund to focus on privacy on Ethereum Crypto exchange WOO Network raises $9M to boost its liquidity Digital asset trading tech firm Flowdesk raises $50M in Series B round This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as TechCrunch’s own reporting. What else we’re writing Want to branch out from the world of web3? Here are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our attention this week: Welcome back to the Unicorn Club, 10 years later I spent the morning with the Apple Vision Pro The goal of a startup is to cease existing Will startup valuations start to recover in 2024? Investors aren’t so sure As hacks worsen, SEC turns up the heat on CISOs

2024-01-18 20:06:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [15, 971, 1085, 1564, 2082, 2659, 2843, 3022, 3223, 3271, 3495]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Drops to Lowest Level Since Approval of ETFs

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-drops-lowest-level-since-185417043.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin fell to the lowest price level since the US approved nearly a dozen exchange-traded funds that hold the cryptocurrency last week. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea “Now that the ETF hype has faded a bit, it would make sense for traders’ attention to be focused elsewhere,” said Bartosz Lipiński, chief executive officer at Cube.Exchange, a trading platform. “Current options positioning suggests support around $40,000, which is a major psychological price point.” The largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 4.3% to $40,809, and is down around 11% following the Jan. 10 sign-off by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin rallied almost 160% last year amid optimism the funds would broaden demand. Read more: What Are These New Bitcoin ETFs and How Do They Work?: QuickTake That has traders closely monitoring the inflows into the ETFs. BlackRock Inc.’s fund has already passed $1 billion in investor inflows, making it the first in the group to surpass the milestone since the funds started trading last Thursday. Investors deposited $371 million in the BlackRock fund on Wednesday, pushing IBIT past the milestone, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Fidelity Investments is close behind. The company’s FBTC Bitcoin ETF saw $358 million in inflows yesterday — the highest single day tally since the fund launched a week ago. In total, about $880 million have flowed into Fidelity’s fund. BlackRock and Fidelity have driven early consolidation in the new asset, with the two firms receiving 68% of all inflows across the nine new ETFs on the market, totaling nearly $2 billion A significant portion of inflows are coming from investors leaving Grayscale Investment’s GBTC fund, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which was created in 2013, had over $28 billion in assets under management when it converted to an ETF, but has seen about $1.6 billion in outflows since trading started. “Another unique kink is the GBTC situation,” said Michael Safai, founding partner at quantitative trading firm Dexterity Capital. “Many investors wanted to wait for the Grayscale discount to collapse prior to exiting their positions. Now that the discount is virtually gone, some newly liberated traders may have sold and are waiting to get back into ETFs soon.” Story continues Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF has a sector-high management fee of 1.5%. Management fees at BlackRock and Fidelity are a fraction of GBTC’s cost, but they do not have the lowest fees in the group of new Bitcoin ETFs — that title goes to Franklin Templeton with its 0.19% management fee. Despite its industry-low fee, Franklin has received less than 2% of inflows across the broader Bitcoin ETF group. Publicly traded companies tied to the digital-asset market also extended their slide. Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, fell about 6.7%, and is down 17% since the approvals. Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital dropped 6.9% and Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy slumped 3%. --With assistance from Elijah Nicholson-Messmer. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 20:28:26+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2076]}

{}

Oil Rises as Middle East Tensions Ratchet Higher, Equities Gain

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-middle-east-crisis-234547570.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose alongside equities, with the widening conflict in the Middle East adding to crude’s gain. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea West Texas Intermediate rose 2.1% to settle above $74 a barrel for the first time this year, with crude futures tracking broader markets for much of the session. Geopolitical risks also bolstered prices as the US struck more than a dozen Houthi missiles in Yemen, its latest response to the Tehran-backed group’s repeated attacks on shipping. Elsewhere, Pakistan carried out retaliatory strikes in Iran. Meanwhile in the US, crude stockpiles dropped 2.49 million barrels last week and now are at the lowest level since October, according to an Energy Information Administration report Thursday. Despite the muted activity in headline prices in recent days — WTI futures have traded in a roughly $6 band so far this year — there have been some bigger moves further along the curve. Key timespreads in the US surged on Wednesday as a chunk of domestic production was curtailed by cold weather. Crude has remained rangebound in the opening weeks of the year, looking for direction amid the escalating crisis in the Middle East and bets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates later than had been expected. Traders are also gauging the impact of supply cuts from OPEC and its allies. The Paris-based IEA said supply from the US, Brazil, Canada and Guyana will lead to another year of robust additions from outside of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. To get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 20:31:42+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [100, 497, 665, 1354]}

{}

Donald Trump's NFTs Have Limits Normal Ones Don't

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trumps-nfts-limits-normal-203142520.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Donald Trump is out with his latest digital collectible gimmick: Something resembling an NFT on the Bitcoin blockchain that effectively costs $9,900 but, unlike normal NFTs, cannot be traded by its owners anytime soon. The former U.S. president's NFT venture announced in a post on X that collectors who pay $99 apiece for 100 of his " mugshot edition " NFTs – issued in December on the Polygon blockchain – will also get a unique card in the form of an ordinal – an NFT-like digital asset on the Bitcoin blockchain. Read More: Donald Trump Vows to 'Never Allow' Central Bank Digital Currencies if Elected "The First Ever Trump Trading Cards officially created the Bitcoin Blockchain!" read part of the announcement tweet thread that featured grammatical errors and non-standard capitalization. The offer is apparently meant to drum up sales of Trump's most recent NFT collection. At max, only 200 of these "one of one" ordinals will be minted, according to the post. But buyer beware: the ordinals, as well as the 100 NFTs that one must buy to get it, cannot be traded by their owners until December 2024. The thread said this limitation is meant to restrict their appeal as "investment vehicles," but in so doing, it also severely denigrates their appeal as NFTs. TRUMP DIGITAL TRADING CARDS on BITCOIN ORDINALS 🟧 The FIRST EVER Trump Trading Cards on Bitcoin. Read this thread ⬇️ — CollectTrumpCards (@CollectTrump) January 18, 2024

2024-01-18 20:32:24+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2208]}

{}

Jain Global Cuts Target to as Low as $5 Billion Before Debut

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jain-global-cuts-target-low-203224829.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Bobby Jain told investors his hedge fund now aims to debut with $5 billion to $6 billion — a target far below its earlier ambitions to start with as much as $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Jain Global had originally hoped to top ExodusPoint Capital Management’s prior $8 billion launch, to become the largest-ever hedge fund startup. A spokesperson for Jain Global declined to comment. Jain has already slashed fees to make backing his fund more attractive, granting those who commit at least $250 million a discounted 10% performance fee indefinitely. The firm has been 2024’s most anticipated launch, and the lowered expectations underscore how challenging fundraising has become for the industry. Jain —— who was co-chief investment officer at Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management — has spent months courting Middle East sovereign wealth funds and other large allocators of capital. But investors have become more cautious after being burned by too much private equity exposure last year. It’s particularly tough for multistrategy funds, which posted middling returns last year and face scrutiny over high leverage and crowded trades. If he raises $5 billion, Jain Global could still achieve one of the largest launches of 2024. That could rival a fund being launched by former Millennium senior trader Diego Megia, who’s on track to start his shop with as much as $5 billion — of which $3 billion is coming from Englander’s firm. The Financial Times reported Jain Global’s new fund target earlier. Jain is expected to launch his firm in July and has so far built a team of about 80 people. Story continues (Updates with additional context starting in fifth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5305]}

{}

HSBC, SocGen Take Contrarian View of Japan’s Blistering Market

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-socgen-contrarian-view-japan-210000961.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Japan, Asia’s most-popular market, also has its detractors. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Investor enthusiasm for Japanese equities dominates the region, with 59% of Asia’s fund managers overweight on the country, according to a Bank of America Corp. survey this month with India a distant second at 18%. The optimism is based on the country’s Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes reaching their highest levels in 34 years, coupled with a weak yen and the return of inflation. That popularity has convinced strategists at HSBC Holdings Plc and Societe Generale SA that the market has risen too far and investors should start taking profits. The yen’s volatility has become another concern. The currency’s weakness has been driven by the country’s negative rates and traders have been whipsawed as speculation picks up that the Bank of Japan will finally end the policy this year. “I will be careful in this market,” said Herald van der Linde, head of Asia equity strategy at HSBC in Hong Kong. “Everybody’s well positioned for it, everybody’s bought into it,” he said, adding that much of the good news have been priced in. The brokerage has an underweight rating for Japan stocks. Some technical indicators support that view. The Topix is showing signs of overheating as its relative strength index recently reached the highest since May. The last time it breached the overbought threshold in September, the market fell around 9%. Some market watchers say Japanese stocks risk becoming a crowded trade. HSBC forecasts that the Topix will end the year at 2,460, which would be a 1.3% decline from current levels. Societe Generale expects the Nikkei 225 to fall to 32,500 by the end of June, a decline of about 8% Story continues “A lot’s already been priced in the near term,” said Michael Dyer, investment director for multi-asset strategies at M&G Investments in Hong Kong. “We’ve lightened up a little bit. We took some profits. It’s become more and more again a consensus trade.” His view is echoed by Kelvin Leung, a portfolio manager at Robeco Hong Kong Ltd. The “recent rally is still quite momentum driven and quite overheated in my opinion,” he said. “If you observe the market breadth, it’s driven by large cap, tech and auto. I would say it’s quite narrow still.” If and when Japan does raise rates, it will likely be moving in the opposite direction of the Federal Reserve. Lower rates in the US would weaken the dollar’s strength vis-a-vis the yen. This factored into Societe Generale’s decision to slash its Japanese stocks allocation to 8% from 15% in November as the yen’s excessive movement to either side of the dollar “makes the risk-reward a little bit less attractive,” according to Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at the French firm. “We have to recognize some risk at the time where the Fed is expected to ease and the Bank of Japan is expected to tighten,” said Hong Kong-based Benzimra. An appreciation of the yen is also being closely monitored by JPMorgan Private Bank as a risk to their investments. “A big part of the upside that we have seen has been yen depreciation. Of course it doesn’t account for all of it, but it is a key driver,” said Alexander Wolf, head of Asia investment strategy. “And we do expect the yen to appreciate, though not massively, given how cheap it is relative to the dollar.” Bullish Long Term Still, the overwhelming sentiment is for further gains. The Nikkei could rise to between 42,000 and 43,000 this year, according to Toshio Morita, chairman of the Japan Securities Dealers Association. The country’s financial institutions have been adding staff, with an emphasis on traders who have experience in an environment with rising interest rates. Japan Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading Way Bullish investors point to policies aimed at improving corporate valuations, namely the capital improvement directive by the Tokyo Stock Exchange on companies trading below book value. Efforts to beat that metric have helped companies such as Daiwa Securities Group Inc., which traded above book value this week for the first time in six years. At the same time, more than a quarter of investors surveyed by Bank of America in January expect double-digit returns in the next 12 months, an increase from one-sixth in the previous survey in December. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management’s chief fund manager, Kiyoshi Ishigane, said that while he has pared his exposure, he continues to be optimistic for the future. “I reduced the weight of Japanese stocks and took a bit of profit,” he said. “I also expect the yield on the 10-year Treasury will increase again, potentially dragging stocks down going forward. That said, the fundamentals of Japanese stocks haven’t changed much, so I remain bullish long term.” --With assistance from Ruth Carson and Winnie Hsu. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:00:06+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [105, 713, 975, 2016, 2107, 2150, 2306, 2958, 3073], "BTC": [122]}

{"Bitcoin": [34]}

Billionaire Jamie Dimon Refers to Bitcoin as a "Pet Rock," Saying It "Does Nothing." Here's 1 Crypto Use That He Thinks Could Be Worth It.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-jamie-dimon-refers-bitcoin-210006288.html

Motley Fool

http://www.fool.com/

At a World Economic Forum event on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon lobbed another criticism at Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) . Discussing the utility of the market-leading cryptocurrency, Dimon said, "I call it the Pet Rock." The comment was a reference to the short-lived Pet Rock fad that took off for a brief moment in the 1970s and made its creator a millionaire. It involved selling consumers a rock for $4 each that came in a custom cardboard box complete with ventilation holes (as if it were a live animal). You'd probably have a hard time selling leftover rock inventory these days (except maybe to a few memorabilia collectors). But while Dimon remains highly skeptical about the utility and value of Bitcoin, he does see compelling use cases for blockchain technologies. If the billionaire bank CEO is right, another top cryptocurrency could be a better buy. Dimon is more optimistic about smart contracts Dimon recently said that he's fed up with talking about Bitcoin and doesn't plan to comment on it going forward. On the other hand, the famously successful money man does see promise in smart contracts enabled by blockchain technologies. Right now, the leading network for running smart contracts is Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) . The network's Ether token could see strong pricing tailwinds if demand for contracts that are documented with an immutable digital ledger and quickly resolved with cryptocurrency tokens takes off. Speaking on the importance of utility in shaping valuations in the cryptocurrency space, Dimon had this to say: "There's a cryptocurrency which might actually do something. You can use it to buy and sell real estate and move data -- tokenizing things that you do something with." Ethereum isn't the only blockchain network that offers the ability to build and create smart contracts, but it is the clear market leader in the space. Its cryptocurrency has risen 61% over the last year. The token now has a market capitalization of roughly $295.5 billion, trailing behind only Bitcoin -- which has an approximately $813 billion market cap. Should you invest $1,000 in Bitcoin right now? Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than tripled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. Story continues See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of January 16, 2024 JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Billionaire Jamie Dimon Refers to Bitcoin as a "Pet Rock," Saying It "Does Nothing." Here's 1 Crypto Use That He Thinks Could Be Worth It. was originally published by The Motley Fool View comments

2024-01-18 21:20:22+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1838]}

{}

Endeavour Mining Says Fired CEO to Lose $29.1 Million in Pay

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/endeavour-mining-says-fired-ceo-212022812.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Endeavour Mining Plc is stripping its former Chief Executive Officer Sébastien de Montessus of $29.1 million in renumeration after he was fired earlier this month for “serious misconduct.” Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea The London-based gold miner said in a statement Thursday that de Montessus forfeits $17.6 million, which includes a $2 million annual bonus for last year and $15.6 million in unvested share awards. Endeavour Mining is also clawing back $10 million for a one-off award granted in 2021 and $1.5 million cash bonus for 2022, the company said. Endeavour fired de Montessus earlier this month, citing serious misconduct over an alleged irregular payment instruction of $5.9 million tied to an asset sale. De Montessus has since said he instructed a creditor of Endeavour to make the payment in 2021 to a security company to offset money owed for essential security equipment. “I am disappointed with the way that this matter has been handled and that I have not been given an opportunity to make proper representations to either the board or the remuneration committee,” de Montessus said in a separate Thursday statement. Read More: Gold CEO Firing Deals Fresh Blow to Mining’s Battered Reputation The Canadian shares of Endeavour rose 1.3% to C$23.91 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. (Adds closing shares. An earlier version corrects spelling of company.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:27:49+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2550]}

{}

Google Judge Balks at Altering App Store Fee Without Expert Help

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-judge-balks-altering-app-212749239.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The judge presiding over Epic Games Inc.’s challenge to Google’s Play Store business model said he’s not confident about setting a fee for mobile app developers without expert input. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events An Isolated Israel Doubles Down on War in Gaza — At All Costs Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom A jury last month sided with the maker of the popular game Fortnite and concluded that Alphabet Inc.’s Google Play unlawfully abused its power in what has become a duopoly with Apple Inc. that generates close to $200 billion a year. In the next phase of the case, US District Judge James Donato will decide on a remedy. “I have grave doubts that I am in any position to set a fee that developers might pay,” Donato said at a hearing Thursday as he discussed the litigation’s next steps with attorneys. “That’s beyond the canon of Article III judges.” The verdict handed down by a San Francisco jury on Dec. 11 threatens billions of dollars in revenue for Google Play, which charges commissions of as much as 30% to software developers who typically have few other options. At the time, Epic Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney said his company would seek “actual changes in practice” to Google’s app store, but didn’t provide specifics about a potential remedy. Donato said he will give Epic and Google a chance to negotiate a settlement, and if they can’t come an agreement, he’ll hold a hearing in mid-March. The judge signaled that he wants input from expert economists. Epic largely lost a similar challenge to Apple’s app store in 2021. Both companies asked the US Supreme Court to review the dispute but the justices this week declined, without explanation. In December, Alphabet agreed to pay $700 million to settle separate antitrust complaints brought by state attorneys general and consumers challenging Google Play policies. Story continues Corie Wright, Epic’s vice president of public policy, criticized the deal because it doesn’t limit the fees charged by Google. The accord instead calls on Google to change its Play Store policies to reduce barriers to competition for app distribution and payment processing. Read More: Google Play Deal Frustrates Critics of Steep App Developer Fees Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Should I Tell My Colleagues (or My Boss) About My Bipolar Diagnosis? ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:29:42+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4780]}

{}

Biden Hits Trump, Saying 2024 Rival Wants Stock Market Crash

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-knocks-trump-saying-2024-201522456.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden lambasted Donald Trump for comments casting the US as a “failing nation,” plugging his agenda in a Republican-leaning state he aims to pick up in November’s election. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea The president during a Thursday event in North Carolina hit Trump for predicting the economy will crater and hoping any stock market crash happens under Biden’s watch. “He doesn’t want to be the next Herbert Hoover. I told him: He’s already Hoover. He’s the only president to be president for four years and lose jobs, not gain jobs,” Biden said, referring to the president who was in office at the time of the 1929 market crash that triggered the Great Depression. Trump in office touted Wall Street’s performance as a gauge — however imperfect — of his economic stewardship. The S&P 500 Index gained about 70% during Trump’s tenure, compared with 24% for Biden. Biden has increasingly hammered Trump’s record, seeking to draw a contrast with his predecessor ahead of a likely general election matchup in which the president’s handling of the economy will take center stage. Biden has pointed to data that show a strong economy, low unemployment and inflation cooling. “He wants to see the stock market crash” because he does not want to acknowledge the economy is now performing well, Biden said. On Thursday, Biden cast his approach as a “fundamental break from trickle-down economics,” which he said was “super-charged” under Trump. Biden said Trump’s policies “shrank public investment in education, infrastructure and education, and hollowed out communities, closing factories and leaving too many behind.” Story continues Swing State Biden traveled to the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina on official business to tout his economic agenda, but the 2024 map loomed large. Trump won North Carolina in 2020, but Biden’s team has signaled it will contest the state this year in a likely rematch between the two men. The president has accelerated his campaign efforts as Trump seeks to quickly sew up the Republican presidential nomination after a blowout victory in Iowa, the first state to vote. Polls show the men in a close race. Biden trailed Trump by 5 percentage points among registered voters in seven swing states, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll taken last month found. The gap was widest in North Carolina, where Trump’s lead was nine points. Biden Refines Economic Pitch for 2024 in Bet Worst Is Behind Him Biden on Thursday announced $82 million from the American Rescue Plan, his first Covid-era stimulus law, to connect 16,000 North Carolina homes and businesses to high-speed Internet. Between that package and the president’s infrastructure law, his administration is investing over $3 billion in North Carolina on Internet connectivity. Biden cast the efforts as a sign of how his policies had aided communities across the country — even those that had not backed him. “I promised to be a president for all America, whether you voted for me or not. These investments help all Americans in red states and blue states as well,” Biden said, touting the state’s 3.5% unemployment rate — which he said had fallen since Trump was in office. He highlighted $11 billion in investments his administration has made in the state, citing $1 billion to help build a rail line between Richmond and Raleigh and $110 million to replace the Alligator River Bridge. High Costs Biden acknowledged there was still work to do, particularly on lowering costs, but said there had been signs of progress. “Costs are still too high, but inflation continues to fall and mortgage rates are falling. They’re going to fall more,” he said. Thursday’s event is the latest attempt by the White House to showcase Biden’s efforts to lower prices for Americans and reverse the poor marks voters give him on his economic stewardship. Just 31% of adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released this week. A Democratic presidential nominee has won the Tar Heel state just twice in the past five decades, most recently Barack Obama in 2008. But Biden’s photo finish with Trump in 2020, when he lost by just 0.3 percentage points, has encouraged Biden’s campaign he can compete there. (Updates with additional context on stock market performance) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:33:10+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1915, 7145, 7805]}

{}

Nasdaq 100 Hits Record High in Tech-Fueled Rebound: Markets Wrap

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-bonds-falter-march-fed-225455990.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- A rally in some of the world’s largest technology companies fueled a rebound in stocks, with traders also weighing the latest economic data and Fedspeak for clues on the US central bank’s next steps. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea After a back-to-back slide, the S&P 500 rose as bond-market volatility abated. The Nasdaq 100 closed at an all-time high as Apple Inc. climbed on an analyst upgrade and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s outlook lifted chipmakers on hopes for a global tech recovery in 2024. Stock traders were unfazed by data underscoring labor-market strength at a time when Fed officials are looking for signs of a slowdown as they contemplate cutting rates. Fed Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic urged policymakers to proceed cautiously given the potential impacts of unpredictable events from elections to global conflicts. His Philadelphia counterpart Patrick Harker said he expects inflation to keep ebbing toward the target. “Given the underlying strength of the US economy, it’s difficult to get too bearish at this point,” said Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance. “The pervasive pessimism and doubt about the stock market and economy is a contrarian signal and one of the best reasons to push against the crowd. Once the last skeptic has been converted, the market will be again vulnerable to a large shock, but we aren’t at that point yet.” The S&P 500 closed around 4,780, while the Nasdaq 100 added 1.5%. A gauge of chipmakers gained almost 3.5%. Treasury two-year yields remained around 4.35%. Oil topped $74 a barrel. Bitcoin slid below $41,000. The rebound in stocks suggests things are calmer, but that’s not to say conditions will remain that way, according to Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. He cited a growing perception that big central banks might not lower rates as much or as soon as the market thought they would. Story continues “There’s clearly a desperate desire to cling on to the optimism that enabled such a strong end to the year, but unlike in that period, the data isn’t really playing ball,” said Craig Erlam at Oanda. “The releases we’ve seen so far this month have been fine and in the main, perfectly in keeping with the expectations people had coming into 2024. But is that enough?” Meantime, Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said he expects the Fed to lower rates and sees “animal spirits” returning to the markets as more investors make that bet too. The Fed’s timing on rate declines won’t be clear, creating a “baffling effect” among investors, he told Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Coming off its best winning streak in two decades, the S&P 500 has run into a roadblock in 2024, with its all-time closing record set two years ago remaining elusive. But a technical gauge that measures the momentum to buy or sell stocks signals that bulls are still stepping in to snap up shares. The index’s DVAN trend line — a proprietary divergence analysis that measures buying or selling pressure — has been on a buying streak since the S&P 500 bottomed in late October, with investors continuing to scoop up shares in multiple trading sessions heading into the closing bell in the past week. To Dan Wantrobski at Janney Montgomery Scott, while markets have stabilized after the recent weakness, a “bumpy path” is still expected. “There are many conflicting market internals/technicals appearing on the charts right now — which should make for a choppy, range-bound glide path over the near term,” Wantrobski noted. After being caught flat-footed early last year, fund managers have gone all-in on technology stocks — so much so that it’s sparking warnings that the Nasdaq 100 is looking ever more vulnerable to investor pullbacks. Hedge funds hold the highest level of net-long Nasdaq 100 futures in nearly seven years, according to Societe Generale’s weighted analysis of data on the Nasdaq 100 Index futures and e-mini contracts provided by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Meanwhile, a global fund manager survey from Bank of America Corp. this month showed the most-crowded trade is being long the “Magnificent Seven” stocks and other tech-related growth shares as a way to play the prospect of Fed easing. Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co. says the news coming out of the chip industry is “definitely bullish,” and “if it can cause a significant and sustainable move above the late-2023 highs, it’s going to be something that should push the stock market higher going forward.” Corporate Highlights: Humana Inc.’s preliminary earnings missed estimates on higher-than-expected costs of members’ care and the Medicare-focused insurer forecast anemic enrollment growth for this year. Boeing Co. won an order for 150 Max jets from India’s newest airline, in a rare spot of good news for the US planemaker since a piece of fuselage blew off an Alaska Airlines flight almost two weeks ago. Nelson Peltz said Walt Disney Co. is unable to heal “self-inflicted wounds” under current leadership and should be aiming for “Netflix-like margins,” days after the entertainment giant knocked back the activist’s bid for a seat on its board. Bayer AG is leaning against breaking up the conglomerate, rejecting pleas from investors frustrated by the company’s ongoing struggle to recover from its costly purchase of Monsanto, according to people familiar with the matter. Birkenstock Holding Plc’s growth targets failed to satisfy traders who were hoping for more from the German sandal maker. KeyCorp reported fourth-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates and predicted net interest income would decline this year. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. named Stellantis NV executive Mark Stewart as chief executive officer following a pressure campaign by shareholder activist Elliott Investment Management. Discover Financial Services posted a 62% drop in fourth-quarter profit as the company continued to grapple with the fallout from compliance and risk-management lapses that led to the resignation of its chief executive officer last year. Key events this week: Canada retail sales, Friday Japan CPI, tertiary index, Friday US existing home sales, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday ECB President Christine Lagarde and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speak in Davos, Friday San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly speaks, Friday Some of the main moves in markets: Stocks The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% The MSCI World index rose 0.7% Currencies The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0869 The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2699 The Japanese yen was little changed at 148.19 per dollar Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin fell 4.2% to $40,850.5 Ether fell 3.1% to $2,446.11 Bonds The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.14% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.35% Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.93% Commodities West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $74.07 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.8% to $2,022.08 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation. --With assistance from Jessica Menton, Isabelle Lee, Jeran Wittenstein and Elena Popina. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 21:35:02+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [125, 236, 382, 640, 674, 1396, 1482, 1597, 2299, 2344, 2611, 2677, 3308], "BTC": [2912]}

{"Bitcoin": [47]}

Why Coinbase (COIN) Is The Biggest Winner From Bitcoin ETF Pending Approvals

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-coinbase-coin-biggest-winner-213502290.html

Benzinga

http://www.benzinga.com/

After receiving dozens of applications, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally gave the green light to 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Jan. 10. The decision is expected to bring new hype and investors into Bitcoin because it allows for a new, equity-based form of investment into the cryptocurrency. While much of the discussion around the benefits of Bitcoin ETFs has been focused on firms sponsoring them and new investors, one party has been left out of the discussion. The custodian of the ETFs also plays a major role in making them available to the everyday investor. Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN ) houses the Bitcoin for 10 out of the 13 spot Bitcoin ETF applications. Don't Miss: This brokerage offers custom rewards for users to switch – the biggest reward so far for 1 user is $19,977.48. Will yours beat it ? The last-standing top crypto exchange without a major security breach offers what now? An ETF works by a sponsoring firm collecting a pool of assets and dividing them into shares that can be sold to investors. Most of the time, the sponsoring firm can hold the assets itself. For instance, the most popular ETF — SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NASDAQ) SPY — is a collection of all the stocks in the S&P 500. Sponsoring firm State Street Global Advisors holds the individual stocks. Regulations make this more difficult for sponsoring companies In the case of Bitcoin ETFs. Because of this, the companies must look elsewhere for a place to house Bitcoin, which they can then package into shares and deliver to investors. The logical choice for most of the spot Bitcoin ETFs was Coinbase. As the largest crypto trading platform in the world, the ETF sponsors are confident that they can trust Coinbase with the role of custodian. Coinbase is known for its safety and security for investors as well as low transaction fees. Cybersecurity and the history of safety are the most important issues for the ETFs. Since the beginning of crypto, hacks have been commonplace. However, Coinbase's security measures use machine learning, two-factor authentication and a vault system to ensure that users' investments are safe. This was particularly attractive for ETFs looking for a custodian. Story continues Additionally, whenever the ETFs create new shares, they must buy Bitcoin on Coinbase. Then they can use those Bitcoins to create new shares. Most ETFs are constantly creating new shares, so this could bring sustained institutional activity to the Coinbase platform. Though its role can be overlooked, Coinbase has a lot to gain from the custodial partnership with the new spot Bitcoin ETFs. Looking to the future, the decision to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs could also pave the way for other spot ETFs, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). If these spot ETFs become a reality, Coinbase could also be the custodian for those. Read Next: Did you know $2.5 BILLION was earned by BTC miners in the 4th quarter of 2023 ? Don't buy the top this time around. Reboot your crypto portfolio today . "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Why Coinbase (COIN) Is The Biggest Winner From Bitcoin ETF Pending Approvals originally appeared on Benzinga.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

2024-01-18 21:40:58+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1384]}

{}

Amazon Gets New Logistics Chief as Felton Takes AWS CFO Role

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-gets-logistics-chief-felton-214058088.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s operations chief is moving to the company’s cloud unit, making way for a career logistics veteran. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events An Isolated Israel Doubles Down on War in Gaza — At All Costs India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom John Felton, who has led Amazon’s worldwide operations unit since June 2022, will become chief financial officer of Amazon Web Services, the company said Thursday in a blog published on its website. Felton, who previously worked in finance roles at Amazon, will be succeeded by Udit Madan, who had been running the company’s delivery services teams. Madan started at Amazon in 2008 as a software development engineer, and subsequently led teams working on robotics and automation in warehouses and delivery technology, among other roles. The operations job includes oversight of Amazon’s fleet of hundreds of warehouses, and the hundreds of thousands of employees and contractors who pack items and deliver them to customers’ doors. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine Should I Tell My Colleagues (or My Boss) About My Bipolar Diagnosis? The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 21:47:33+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2837]}

{}

Bank of America Joins Debt Binge as Weekly Sales Hit $50 Billion

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-joins-debt-binge-214733464.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., U.S. Bancorp and Citizens Financial Group Inc. are the latest to barrel into the US investment-grade debt market, selling nearly $10 billion of bonds Thursday. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea The trio of banks added to a roughly $50 billion stampede of debt issuance this week as regional firms join money-center banks in the race to tap the market after reporting earnings. With nearly two weeks left to go, this month is already the second-busiest January on record. Bank of America tested investor appetite with $5 billion of senior unsecured fixed-to-floating rate notes that yield 133 basis points over comparable Treasuries after initial pricing discussions of around 155 basis points, according to a person familiar with the matter. Details of the deals from Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and Citizens are all according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it. Sources also said U.S. Bancorp and Citizens marketed deals Thursday. U.S. Bancorp offered $3.5 billion of debt in two parts. The longest portion, an 11-year note, yields 153 basis points over comparable Treasuries after being pitched to investors at a spread of around 180 basis points. Citizens sold $1.25 billion of fixed-to-floating rate notes that yield 180 basis points over comparable Treasuries following initial pricing discussions around 210 basis points. It’s been a busy week for Wall Street titans after JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Morgan Stanley sold about $23 billion in new bonds on Tuesday. That was swiftly followed by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. with a $2.5 billion deal on Wednesday, making it the first domestic regional lender to tap the bond market this year. Story continues Weekly issuance is just shy of $50 billion, blowing past forecasts of $35 billion. All told, blue-chip companies have brought 25 deals to market so far this week. Following a positive earnings report earlier this week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is one bank not anticipated to sell new debt Thursday, according to Bloomberg’s Michael Gambale. Investors will be watching Citigroup Inc. and regional lender Truist Financial Corp., as they may issue debt after quarterly reports. --With assistance from Michael Gambale. (Updates with deal pricing details throughout, adds chart.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 22:23:47+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4023]}

{}

Masimo CEO Says Users Are Better Off Without Apple’s Blood Oxygen Tool

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/masimo-ceo-says-users-better-191734240.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Masimo Corp. Chief Executive Officer Joe Kiani, waging a legal fight with Apple Inc. over a blood oxygen feature, said that consumers are better off without the iPhone maker’s version of the technology. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom Florida Governor DeSantis Drops Out of 2024 Race, Endorses Trump The remarks followed Apple’s decision to cease sales of smartwatches Thursday that had the tool — a gauge of blood oxygen saturation known as a pulse oximeter — which had been a heavily marketed health feature on the devices. The move stemmed from a ruling by the US International Trade Commission that found the technology violated Masimo patents. Customers should buy pulse oximeters from Masimo or others instead, Kiani said in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV. “Apple is masquerading what they are offering to consumers as a reliable, medical pulse oximeter, even though it is not,” he said. “I really feel wholeheartedly that consumers are better off without it.” Read more: Why Apple Had to Disable Oxygen Sensor in Its Watches: QuickTake Apple said that Kiani’s claims are false and that its watch’s blood oxygen feature is accurate, works very well for customers and in some cases can save lives. After a US federal appeals court denied Apple a reprieve, the company began selling tweaked versions of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches Thursday without the feature. Apple said it strongly disagrees with the court’s decision and is appealing the ITC ban. Unlike Apple’s implementation of blood oxygen sensing, Masimo’s offering has been approved by the US Federal Drug Administration, Kiani said. He criticized the Apple feature for just taking two measurements a day and claimed the company only released the tool during the Covid pandemic to take market share from Fitbit, now part of Alphabet Inc.’s Google. “Pulse oximetry is not useful unless it is a continuous monitor,” Kiani said. “That happens during sleep. During sleep, you could have a desaturation that might be related to apnea. You can have a dangerous desaturation to opioid pain relief you might have taken. That is where the value comes.” In response, Apple said that its watch wasn’t designed to detect desaturation events and that it’s not a continuous blood oxygen monitor. Instead, the device does on-demand spot checks and intermittent background checks for blood oxygen levels. It added that the continuous measurements Kiani describes don’t make a device accurate. Accuracy is determined by comparisons to high-quality reference data, the company said. Story continues Read More: Masimo CEO Open to Settling Apple Rift But ‘They Haven’t Called’ Masimo’s CEO said he hasn’t spoken to Apple personally about a settlement, and that nobody from Apple has reached out about coming to an agreement. “There are court-ordered mediations that I cannot get into that have been held before,” he said. “And there will be additional meetings probably in the future.” Kiani added that he doesn’t consider those meetings to be steps toward settling litigation. Apple disputed Kiani’s characterization that nobody from Apple has reached out, saying that the company has held a mediation and that a future meeting has been set. The executive also criticized the idea that his company is throwing everything it can at Apple to see what sticks, saying that none of his company’s patents have been invalidated. Apple is living in a “fake reality,” Kiani said. “This narrative is false.” For its part, Apple said 15 of 17 Masimo patents have been found invalid in earlier litigation. The ITC case centers on two patents. (Updated with responses from Apple starting in fourth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 22:24:33+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [630, 1410, 1890, 2013, 3328, 4127, 4985]}

{}

REFILE-UPDATE 1-Spot bitcoin ETFs draw nearly $2 billion in first three days of trading

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-spot-bitcoin-etfs-draw-154342782.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

(Refiles to fix formatting of company name in paragraph 17) By Suzanne McGee Jan 18 (Reuters) - A new batch of U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has attracted strong investor interest, though it is unclear if they will be able to maintain the pace of inflows in coming weeks. Investors have poured $1.9 billion into nine new exchange-traded funds tracking the spot price of bitcoin in their first three days of trading, data from issuers and analysts showed, with fund giants BlackRock and Fidelity pulling in the lion’s share of the flows. Collective flows to the nine funds outpaced post-launch flows into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which drew a record $1.2 billion in the first three days of trading after its 2021 launch. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF attracted $1.13 billion in the first three days after its 2004 launch. Still, the investments in the long-awaited ETFs - launched on Jan. 11, a day after receiving approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - fell short of the most aggressive estimates of first-day flows in the billions of dollars. Market participants said it remained to be seen to what degree funds tracking the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency continue drawing retail and institutional investors, and which issuers will come out ahead. Some bullish analysts have said flows could reach between $50 billion and $100 billion by the end of the year. Bitcoin is down more than 8% since Jan. 11, after rallying in recent months on anticipation that the ETFs would finally get the nod from the SEC. "So far, the launches have almost measured up to the hype," said Todd Sohn, an ETF analyst at Strategas. "The next question is: What is their staying power? What will those flows look like in six months' time, or six years from now?" For now, lower fees and name recognition appear to be key factors in drawing investors. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF from asset management giant BlackRock has attracted more than $700 million, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund has topped $500 million, according to BitMEX Research, a cryptocurrency research and analysis firm. Fees among the nine issuers - before waivers - range from a low of 0.19% to a high of 0.39%. BlackRock is charging a fee of 0.12% for the first $5 billion in assets and the first 12 months of trading. After that, the fee will rise to 0.25%. Fidelity is initially charging zero, rising to 0.25% after July 31. Those fees will still be less than half the average ETF fee of 0.54%, as calculated by Morningstar Inc. Story continues “Fees are clearly a key determinant for success,” said Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, which is providing the index against which six of the new ETFs will be measured. "Those that charge the lower management fees will unsurprisingly make themselves more appealing compared to their peers. Brand recognition is another core aspect." BITCOIN BRANDS While BlackRock and Fidelity have dominated inflows, other issuers with a strong brand among cryptocurrency aficionados aren't that far behind. Both Bitwise and a joint venture of Ark Investments and 21Shares are initially waiving fees. Bitwise said its inflows in the first three days totaled $305.5 million, while the Ark/21Shares ETF has had inflows of nearly $230 million, according to BitMEX. By contrast, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), with a fee of 1.5%, has seen outflows this month. The trust was converted into an ETF at the same time the other ETFs were launched, and has seen $1.16 billion in outflows in its first three trading days, data from BitMEX showed. Paul Karger, founder of TwinFocus, a boutique wealth management advisory firm, says some of his clients are selling their GBTC holdings and moving into the cheaper new ETFs. "We're seeing a shift from GBTC to the new, lower-cost ETFs, as well as some clients putting more money to work in the cheaper options" from brand-name issuers, he said. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein pointed out that unlike the newly launched products, Grayscale already had substantial assets at the time of its conversion, allowing investors to lock in profits after Bitcoin’s run. The firm’s fees, meanwhile, “reflect a certain value that it brings to the market and to investors,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Grayscale “has a 10-year track record. It has 20-some-odd billion dollars of AUM (assets under management), a diversified shareholder base, tight spreads, and unbelievable liquidity,” Sonnenshein said. The next hurdle for the funds will likely be demonstrating their ability to win acceptance among institutional investors, such as pension funds, and investment advisers. "The question of what to do with these in a portfolio has been drowned out by a lot of the noise" surrounding the new products' debut, Steve Kurz, head of asset management at Galaxy Digital, said ahead of last week's launch of its ETF. Galaxy has partnered with Invesco to launch the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF , one of the nine new spot bitcoin ETFs. The process of talking about what kind of allocation is appropriate and how spot bitcoin ETFs will "work their way into model portfolios will come into focus in the next six months,” he said. (Reporting by Suzanne McGee Additional reporting by Hannah Lang and Megan Davies; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili, Michelle Price and Leslie Adler) View comments

2024-01-18 22:33:17+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [83, 198, 511, 821, 865, 933, 1004, 1046, 1122, 1165, 1208, 1250, 1854, 1924, 2201, 2256, 2357, 2555, 3176], "BTC": [2729]}

{"Bitcoin": [16]}

$4.6 Billion In Bitcoin ETF Inflows, Here's Which Funds Saw The Most Volume

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-6-billion-bitcoin-etf-223317571.html

Benzinga

http://www.benzinga.com/

On Jan. 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved allowing 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to trade on equity markets. The ETFs are expected to bring new investors into Bitcoin because there's a new way to access investment in the cryptocurrency. Some of the largest asset managers and crypto firms took part in the offerings, making them even more appealing to investors. All of this, combined with years of build-up and hype, resulted in $4.6 billion in volume across the 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. Don't Miss: This brokerage offers custom rewards for users to switch – the biggest reward so far for 1 user is $19,977.48. Will yours beat it ? The last-standing top crypto exchange without a major security breach offers what now? Here's a list of the ETFs and their volume on Day One: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC): $2.09 billion iShares Bitcoin Trust by BlackRock (IBIT): $1.01 billion Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin (FBTC): $673 million ARK 21Shares (ARKB): $275 million Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB): $120 million Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC): $65.2 million Invesco Galaxy (BTCO): $44 million VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL): $24 million Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR): $9 million WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW): $6.4 million Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF (DEFI): $4.2 million Grayscale is the largest crypto asset manager in the world. Its GBTC ETF existed before the spot ETF approval. Before, GBTC was a futures-linked ETF. It was converted into a spot ETF on Jan. 10. It was known to investors for some time, so some saw it as the go-to for trading. Other notable firms on the list include BlackRock, which is the world's largest asset manager with over $9 trillion in assets under management, and ARK, a leader in the technology ETF space. One notable firm not included on the list is Vanguard, a leader in the ETF space. It said that Bitcoin is too high risk and volatile, leading it to not offer a spot Bitcoin product to its clients. All in all, over 700,000 individual trades were processed. This is nearly twice the amount of the leading NASDAQ ETF, QQQ. While QQQ had higher volumes on Day One, the large amount of trades signifies the amount of retail investment in the spot Bitcoin ETFs. Story continues On Day One, the ETFs and Bitcoin did not perform incredibly well. Every ETF fell by 5% to 6%. The night before the approvals, Bitcoin hit a two-year high, so many see it as a sell-the-news event. This is relevant because the approvals have been seen as imminent for some time. It will be interesting to see how the price of Bitcoin and the ETFs move in the coming days and weeks. Make sure to use Benzinga to stay up to date on all things crypto. Read Next: Did you know $2.5 BILLION was earned by BTC miners in the 4th quarter of 2023 ? Don't buy the top this time around. Reboot your crypto portfolio today . "ACTIVE INVESTORS' SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro - Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now! Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article $4.6 Billion In Bitcoin ETF Inflows, Here's Which Funds Saw The Most Volume originally appeared on Benzinga.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

2024-01-18 22:34:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2502]}

{}

Spirit Air Says No Bankruptcy Planning After JetBlue Setback

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spirit-air-says-no-bankruptcy-223456872.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Spirit Airlines Inc. downplayed speculation it’s planning a bankruptcy-driven restructuring even as the discount carrier reexamines its balance sheet following the collapse of a planned sale to JetBlue Airways Corp. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea “Spirit is not pursuing nor involved in a statutory restructuring,” the company said in an emailed statement late Thursday. The comment offers a glimpse into how the airline plans to navigate a heavy debt load and diminished prospects in the low-cost travel market. Spirit said earlier Thursday that it “has been taking, and will continue to take, prudent steps to ensure the strength” of its finances and ongoing operations. The carrier is weighing bond restructuring options and recently completed a sale-leaseback of aircraft that brought in cash. Spirit’s shares have been in a tailspin since the ruling, plunging 62% over the past three days. The stock was little changed after regular trading Thursday in New York. Read More: JetBlue’s $3.8 Billion Spirit Deal Turns Into a Nightmare Wall Street analysts, including those from TD Cowen and Melius Research, have said Spirit could be forced into bankruptcy reorganization or even liquidation following this week’s court decision blocking the JetBlue deal. The carriers haven’t commented on whether they will appeal since saying shortly after the ruling that they disagreed with the finding and were considering options. Spirit has been battered by the grounding of a portion of its fleet because of an engine manufacturing problem, increasing operating costs and sagging fares in the domestic market as the supply of seats outpaces demand. A buyout by JetBlue represented a lifeline for it. Story continues The carrier’s “financial results have been outright bad and are not expected to materially improve in the near term,” Conor Cunningham, a Melius Research analyst, said in a note. (Updates from first paragraph with detail on company’s denial; Adds no decision has been announced on a possible appeal of court ruling.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 22:39:55+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2112, 2509]}

{}

US stocks trade mixed as surprise drop in jobless claims sends bond yields higher

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-trade-mixed-surprise-223955420.html

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images US stocks traded mixed after jobless claims dropped to their lowest level in 16 months. Investors are now placing a 55.7% chance the central bank cuts rates at their March meeting, down from 70% last week. "The labor market continues to show signs of resilience despite the rapid pace of interest rate hikes that the Fed initiated close to two years ago." US stocks traded mixed on Thursday as fresh jobs data came in strong, fueling investors to continue repricing their bets on a March rate cut from the Fed. Jobless claims data fell to 187,000 last week, down by 16,000 from the prior week and the lowest level in 16 months. Economists were expecting an uptick to 208,000.  Yields on the 10-year Treasury jumped 4 basis points following the release then pared gains slightly. "The labor market continues to show signs of resilience despite the rapid pace of interest rate hikes that the Fed initiated close to two years ago," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, said. Markets have been recalibrating their optimism around a Fed pivot, with stocks largely losing steam from their year-end rally in 2023. The CME FedWatch Tool shows investors are wagering a 55.7% chance the central bank cuts rates at their meeting in March, down from 70% last week. "With initial jobless and continuing claims remaining low (and below consensus), there seems to be no signs of a collapse in the labor market and that is good news for those that believe the economy will continue to expand and that a recession will be averted for this year as well," Zaccarelli said. Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday: S&P 500 : 4,757.57, up 0.39% Dow Jones Industrial Average : 37,205.49, down 0.16% (61.18 points) Nasdaq Composite : 15,002.11, up 0.99% Here's what else is going on: Top economist Steve Hanke expects stocks to falter, a recession to hit, and inflation to fall below 2% this year. Strategists are saying 2024 earnings expectations are getting out of hand, even as Wall Street scrambles to raise S&P 500 targets. Bitcoin's stunning comeback means crypto's total market cap has doubled since the FTX fiasco . Story continues In commodities, bonds, and crypto: West Texas Intermediate inched up 0.92% to $73.23 a barrel. Brent crude , the international benchmark, edged higher by 0.5% to $78.27 a barrel. Gold ticked up 0.3% to $2,012.50 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed 1.1 basis points to 4.115%. Bitcoin slipped 0.34% to $42,502.50. Read the original article on Business Insider

2024-01-18 22:46:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3745]}

{}

Australia’s Top Pension Says Buy Private Equity in Tough Times

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-top-pension-says-buy-224650463.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- The chief investor for Australia’s biggest pension fund said the best time to deploy private capital is precisely when funds are struggling to raise money. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea The good vintages for private equity funds happen after “tough times,” AustralianSuper Chief Investment Officer Mark Delaney told Bloomberg in an interview in New York Thursday, the same week the fund opened a new office in Manhattan at an event attended by New York’s mayor and the pension’s partners, including TPG Inc., Churchill Capital and New Mountain Capital. Buyout shops in the US have struggled recently amid a deal drought and a dearth of capital as interest rates remain relatively elevated and banks tighten lending restrictions. But AustralianSuper is ramping up its push. It relocated its global head of private equity to New York and, in a counter-cyclical move, plans to double its existing team of nine private equity experts as part of a broader plan to access private markets. “This is primarily about private markets, about making sure we’ve got access to the right people and the right assets in the right way,” AustralianSuper Chief Executive Officer Paul Schroder told Bloomberg, as he wore a lapel pin with US and Australian flags. “If you can’t be good at finance in New York, you can’t be good at finance.” AustralianSuper has invested $6.5 billion in private equity so far and deliberately works with only 10 managers in the US — typically offering check sizes of approximately $500 million. First Call With more on-the-ground presence in New York, “our ambition is to be the first call and the fastest answer,” Schroder said. “Because the managers only have a certain number of calls and a certain number of days to take their actions.” Story continues Read More: A $185 Billion Australian Fund Ramps Up New York, London Hiring Australia’s A$3.6 trillion ($2.4 trillion) pension industry, known as superannuation, is increasingly looking overseas as it outgrows smaller domestic capital markets. Unlike US pension funds, which are on average underfunded, Australian funds come with flush cash flows and fewer distribution demands. Fund assets are projected to surge to more than A$9 trillion in the next two decades, fueled by compulsory employer contributions of 11% of worker salaries that will grow to 12% within three years. AustralianSuper doesn’t plan to make direct investments itself, choosing not to be seen as a direct competitor to the investment managers that it relies on for fund investing. Instead, it’s seeking to allocate more capital to invest in and underwrite deals alongside its general partners, Schroder said. When it comes to private credit, Delaney expressed skepticism. “There’s no doubt that private credit’s attractive. The spreads are substantial, with double-digit returns,” he said. “But you’re getting double-digit returns because interest rates are higher and you are assuming there’s going to be very low defaults. And both those things may not be sustainable in the long run.” While the fund still invests in private credit, it’s more focused on private equity. “We’re open for business,” Schroder said. “We’ve got the ability to write big checks.” --With assistance from Amy Bainbridge, Dawn Lim and Allison McNeely. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 22:47:17+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [90, 161, 396]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Instantly Topped Silver in ETF Market and Trails Only Gold Among Commodities

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-instantly-topped-silver-etf-213451631.html

CoinDesk

https://www.coindesk.com

Silver has existed since dying stars started spewing the metal out billions of years ago. Bitcoin is 15 – but it’s already a bigger deal in the U.S. ETF market. Bitcoin ETFs had more assets than silver ETFs the instant the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved them last week, and trailed only gold among commodity-focused U.S. ETFs. Thanks to the conversion of the existing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF, there was immediately almost $30 billion stashed in bitcoin ETFs, according to data compiled by CoinDesk. Silver ETFs have combined assets of about $11 billion, according to a etfdb.com . The only commodity that remains more popular is gold – which bitcoin is often called a digital version of – with roughly $95 billion. “This was way beyond my short term expectation but is a fantastic validation of bitcoin’s role as a reserve product and of the demand for bitcoin exposure in financial markets,” 21Shares co-founder Ophelia Snyder, who launched one of the ETFs in partnership with Ark Invest, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). The launch of bitcoin ETFs earlier this month marked a historic event not just for the cryptocurrency community but for ETFs, too. The newly launched funds saw roughly $894 million in net inflows within the first three days of trading, significantly higher than most fresh ETFs bring in. View comments

2024-01-18 23:07:35+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2174]}

{}

New Zealand Monthly Net Immigration Slows to 15-Month Low

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zealand-monthly-net-immigration-slows-230735055.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand net immigration slowed to a 15-month low in November, signaling that a population surge that has worried policymakers may have reached its peak. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea An estimated net 4,637 immigrants arrived in November, Statistics New Zealand said Friday in Wellington. That’s down from a revised 10,539 in October and the lowest since August 2022. Annual immigration slowed to 127,409 from a record 132,294 in October, the report showed. New Zealand’s population surged last year following a flood of foreign arrivals, prompting the Reserve Bank to warn that the extra demand for houses and rental accommodation might add to inflation. The central bank said there was a heightened risk of a rate hike in 2024 unless it started to see indicators of price pressures moving in the right direction. In December, Governor Adrian Orr said the RBNZ had “been surprised by the continued extremely high level of net inward migration” adding that it it may mean it has to be more restrictive for longer with monetary policy. The RBNZ and other forecasters have projected immigration will slow over the next two years, but have been confounded by regular upward revisions to the series, which reflects the way in which the data is compiled. Today’s report showed that November monthly net immigration was revised higher by 1,210 while the annual tally was 3,375 higher than previously reported. The sharp drop in monthly immigration reflected a jump in departures both by New Zealand citizens and foreigners, today’s report showed. Still, in the year through November there was a record arrival of 222,400 foreigners — up from 80,200 in the year through November 2022. Story continues Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

2024-01-18 23:42:58+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4172]}

{}

Apple Sees Surgery, Training as Future Vision Pro Growth Areas

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-sees-surgery-training-future-234258913.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., which is poised to launch its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset on Feb. 2, is already envisioning future workplace applications for the device, including using it for surgery, aircraft repair and teaching students. Most Read from Bloomberg China Weighs Stock Market Rescue Package Backed by $278 Billion Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events An Isolated Israel Doubles Down on War in Gaza — At All Costs India Tops Hong Kong as World’s Fourth-Largest Stock Market Hong Kong Stocks at 36% Discount Show True Depth of China Gloom In a video sent to employees this week, Apple executives Mike Rockwell and Alan Dye discussed the product’s development, as well as potential growth areas for the still-nascent technology. Bloomberg News obtained a transcript of the conversation, which came just before Apple began accepting preorders for the Vision Pro on Friday. When asked about some “cool” ways that people could use the $3,499 Vision Pro, Rockwell cited health care, training and education as key areas. “Oftentimes, surgeons struggle to look at displays during procedures, where information is spread out,” said Rockwell, the vice president in charge of the device. “Apple Vision Pro could bring all of that together and hopefully improve patient outcomes.” Separately, the company told employees in a memo Thursday that they’ll be eligible for a 25% discount on the Vision Pro. That’s less than the 50% markdown that Apple offered when the company launched its smartwatch and HomePod smart speaker — though those products didn’t have as high a price tag. It would take the cost down to about $2,600, excluding taxes and options. Employees also get $500 to spend on a Mac every three years, a credit they’ll be able to apply to the headset. And Apple will reimburse the cost of prescription lenses for the product, according to the memo, which was seen by Bloomberg. The Cupertino, California-based company has marketed the Vision Pro as a consumer device for gaming, video and communication. But Apple is looking for ways to broaden its appeal. Technicians or aircraft mechanics could use it to get “high-quality training in ways they’ve never been able to experience before,” Rockwell said. Rockwell added that he’s “very excited about what we can do in learning and education because it is another superpower of Apple Vision Pro.” Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Two of Rockwell’s lieutenants — Dave Scott and Yaniv Gur — are investigating new applications for the Vision Pro. Scott was previously an executive on Apple’s car team before briefly leaving to run a mobile MRI machine company. He’s now in charge of finding ways for enterprises to use the headset. Gur, who used to run engineering for Apple’s productivity apps, is overseeing potential education opportunities for the device. Story continues Apple is betting that mixed reality — the melding of virtual and augmented reality — will eventually become a major source of revenue. But the hefty price will make it harder to win over consumers. Success of the Vision Pro also will hinge on third-party developers. Though Apple has lined up content from many big entertainment providers, including Walt Disney Co., others have balked at supporting the new device. Netflix Inc., Spotify Technology SA and Google’s YouTube don’t plan to offer Vision Pro apps for their services, forcing users to see their content through the device’s web browser — a less immersive experience. Read More: YouTube, Spotify Follow Netflix in Snubbing Apple’s Vision Pro Apple hopes the headset’s groundbreaking technology will help win converts. “We strived to make a product that was a tool, not a toy,” Rockwell said. “To make a product for productivity or high-end entertainment, displays had to be exceptional, so we invested a lot in creating a new, uncompromising high-resolution display system.” (Updates with more on Vision Pro plans starting in 10th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. How Sweden Quit Smoking Without Quitting Nicotine Should I Tell My Colleagues (or My Boss) About My Bipolar Diagnosis? The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-18 23:57:15+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5, 1153, 2934]}

{"Bitcoin": [15]}

Leveraged Spot Bitcoin ETFs Loom

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leveraged-spot-bitcoin-etfs-loom-235715595.html

etf.com

https://www.etf.com/

Spot Bitcoin ETF Issuers See Bright Future With the first wave of spot bitcoin ETFs on the market, issuers’ next round with regulators will involve strategies designed for the most aggressive traders. There have been at least a dozen filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for ETFs that offer short and leveraged long exposure to spot bitcoin ETFs. If approved, the strategies will work similar to single-stock ETFs that give active traders and speculators easy tools for placing bold  bets on the underlying assets, in this case the spot bitcoin ETFs that were approved for trading on Jan. 10. “You’ve already got a good base of volume and interest and it’s volatile, which is the perfect recipe for leverage issuers,” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “This was expected, and I don’t see why they wouldn’t be approved,” he added. Of the issuers jumping on the opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of spot bitcoin ETFs, Tuttle Capital Management was first out of the gate, filing three inverse and three leveraged ETFs on Jan. 3, a week before the SEC approved the first spot bitcoin ETFs. Leveraging Spot Bitcoin ETFs Asked about his expectations to receive approval for strategies that will soup up the volatility of an asset with a short history of extreme volatility, founder Matthew Tuttle cited the volatility of some of the single-stock ETFs already on the market. “Is bitcoin more volatile than Tesla,” he said, referencing the T-REX 2X Long Tesla Daily Target ETF (TSLT) that he co-launched with Rex Shares in October. Tuttle’s most recent batch of six filings seeks to offer inverse and leveraged exposures of between 1.5 times and two times the performance of the underlying spot bitcoin ETF. Tuttle said it hasn’t determined the  ETF fees yet, and that the specific underlying ETF for each strategy will depend on the size and liquidity of the spot bitcoin ETF. “It was only a matter of time before someone would take the next step and propose launching leverage and/or inverse funds using bitcoin as the reference asset,” said John Hunt, partner in the investment management group at the law firm Sullivan & Worcester. “Considering the potential volatility of the funds, especially because an investor could lose his or her entire investment in a day, I would not be surprised if the SEC requires more disclosure of historical bitcoin price volatility information,” he added. Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, said the market should brace for all manner of strategies riding on the popularity of spot bitcoin ETFs. Story continues “We’ll soon see variations, including inverse funds, two-times, and three-times leveraged funds and actively managed funds that try to outperform bitcoin or garner returns with lower levels of volatility,” he said. Noah Hamman, chief executive of AdvisorShares, referenced the Volatility Shares 2X Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) , which launched last June, as a kind of precedent for regulators. However, with BITX having attracted just $172 million, Hamman said, “there does not appear to be as much demand for leveraged long exposure, but I expect that will change over time if more investors become comfortable investing in or actively trading bitcoin via an ETF.” Ben Weiss, chief executive and co-founder of CoinFlip, agrees that since leveraged strategies are nothing new to the ETF space it should be a short step to approving strategies leveraging and shorting the existing spot bitcoin ETFs. “The ETF approvals last week changed the game by making bitcoin easily accessible to every traditional investor in America which will potentially allow bitcoin to play a part in the everyday investor’s portfolio,” he said. “It only makes sense that leverage, and other tools used in the traditional investing space, would be applied to bitcoin investment products as well.” Contact Jeff Benjamin at [email protected] and find him on X at @BenjiWriter Permalink | © Copyright 2024 etf.com. All rights reserved View comments

2024-01-18 23:58:22+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2489]}

{}

FOREX-Dollar headed for second weekly gain on tempered rates outlook

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-headed-second-weekly-235822479.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Tom Westbrook SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The dollar headed for a second weekly gain in a row on Friday on signs of resilience in the U.S. economy and caution about rate cuts from central bankers. Weekly gains on the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars of 1.7% and 2.1% are set to be the largest since November and June respectively. Markets price a 57% chance of a U.S. rate cut in March, down from 75% a week ago. The dollar index is up 0.9% to 103.4 on the week and at 148.12 yen the dollar is up almost 5% on the Japanese currency this year as confidence that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is about to hike rates has also been rattled. Data on Friday showed Japan's core inflation slowed to 2.3% in the year to December, its lowest annual pace since June 2022 - seemingly vindicating policymakers' wait-and-see approach. "The market's realisation that rates hikes will not be easy for the BOJ in the coming months and the coincident repricing of Fed rate cut risks have already been reflected in the move higher in dollar/yen," said Rabobank strategist Jane Foley. Rabobank revised its one-month forecast for dollar/yen to 148 from 144, expecting further unwinding of bets on the pace of U.S. rate cuts to support the dollar. Currency moves early in the Asia session were modest on Friday, leaving the euro down 0.7% for the week at $1.0878 and sterling down 0.3% to $1.2708. The Aussie caught a little support from stabilising iron ore prices and rose 0.1% to $0.6578. The kiwi was steady at $0.6118. Overnight U.S. labour-market data was strong, with weekly jobless claims dropping to their lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years, adding to the pressure on market rate-cut wagers. Two-year Treasury yields, which track short-term interest rate expectations, are up 22 basis points this week to 4.3587%. Earlier data showed retail sales rose more than expected in December. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday the U.S. economy's strength gives policymakers flexibility to move "carefully and slowly" which traders took as pushing back at pricing for a speedy fall in rates. Story continues A similarly hawkish chorus from European central bankers has also dialled back expectations for cuts in Europe, limiting the euro's fall on the dollar and driving gains for crosses such as euro/yen and euro/swissy. An unexpected rise in British inflation also drove a sharp pullback in bets on Bank of England interest rate cuts, and leant support to sterling. Bitcoin hit a five-week low at $40,484 overnight as traders have taken profits following the U.S. approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Speculators drove the price 150% higher during 2023 in anticipation that the approval paved the way for large-scale investors to buy the cryptocurrency. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook.)

2024-01-19 00:12:43+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3491]}

{}

Ship Carrying Cattle From Australia Diverts Amid Red Sea Tumult

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ship-carrying-cattle-australia-diverts-001243738.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- A ship carrying Australian cattle initially headed to the Middle East appears to have diverted toward Africa, a first indication that ships loaded with animals could face longer journeys due to the escalating conflict in the Red Sea. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea The Bahijah left Fremantle port in Western Australia for Aqaba, Jordan on Jan. 5. On Tuesday, it changed course for East London in South Africa, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. That has the potential to raise animal-welfare concerns, should the diversion extend the vessel’s voyage. It also serves as a reminder of the disruptions to food supply chains due to the conflict. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October, Iran-backed Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea, disrupting flows of commodities from oil to crops. The US launched another round of strikes on Yemen’s Houthis overnight as the militant group continues to roil global shipping markets. The vessel has diverted away from the Red Sea due to the worsening security situation, according to a statement from the Australian government. No significant welfare concerns have been reported at this time, it stated. Livestock, primarily sheep, are exported through Fremantle. Jordan often imports live animals ahead of Ramadan, which this year starts in March. Some Middle Eastern nations import livestock — rather than meat — so that animals can be slaughtered in compliance with religious followings. However, the practice has raised concerns about the health and safety of animals aboard, and some countries like Australia are moving to phase out the flows. “This redirection will likely prolong an already long and arduous journey,” said Suzanne Fowler, chief science officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia. She called for live exporters to suspend voyages to destinations that are in, or near, regions of conflict. Read More: US Strikes Yemen Again as Houthi Shipping Attacks Continue Delays to ships carrying livestock can jeopardize a limited supply of food, bedding and medication on board and increase animal stress, she said. “All Australian livestock consignments have reserve fodder on board as well as Australian Government accredited veterinarians and stock hands that are responsible for constantly monitoring the welfare of animals on board,” said Mark Harvey-Sutton, chief executive officer at the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council. Story continues Fremantle port declined to comment. Ship database Equasis lists the vessel as owned by Bassem Dabbah Shipping Inc. and managed by Korkyra Shipping Ltd. in Croatia. The Bahijah is listed as part of Korkyra’s fleet on the company’s website. It states that it has a cargo capacity of around 8,000 cattle or sheep. Korkyra didn’t immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment. --With assistance from Mohammad Tayseer and Ben Sharples. (Updates with additional details from the Australian government in first and fifth paragraphs) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. View comments

2024-01-19 00:32:15+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [778, 2040, 2504]}

{}

Court decisions could rein in SEC authority over crypto industry

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/court-decisions-could-rein-sec-003215219.html

Fox Business

https://www.foxbusiness.com/

Federal southern district of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla heard arguments during a five-hour hearing Wednesday afternoon in a case that could decide the regulatory future of the $1.7 trillion cryptocurrency industry. Lawyers for the U.S's largest crypto exchange Coinbase argued that the courts should dismiss an SEC lawsuit alleging that the exchange violated securities laws by operating as an "unregistered broker dealer" in buying and selling similarly unregistered digital assets. SEC DUPED, X ACCOUNT HACKED, BITCOIN ETF NOT APPROVED Wall Street's top cop, the SEC, asked Failla to rule against Coinbase's motion to dismiss because the company, in the agency's view, clearly flouted securities laws, and that discovery for a future trial should begin immediately. Bitcoin spiked 10% amid the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank. Legal experts say it could take Failla anywhere from two to six weeks to make a decision. If and when the case advances, the outcome could mark an important precedent in U.S. crypto regulation. If the court sides with Coinbase, it could significantly hamper SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s attempt to regulate the crypto business through various enforcement actions. Since becoming chairman, Gensler has brought more than fifty crypto enforcement actions for various rule violations. An SEC victory over Coinbase would allow Gensler to continue pursuing that agenda. READ ON THE FOX BUSINESS APP The lawsuit alleges that Coinbase is operating as an unregistered broker, exchange and clearing agency by offering thirteen tokens the SEC believes to be "securities," and thus in need of registration with the agency, just like a stock or bond. Coinbase argues that no tokens sold on its platform constitute securities because there's no underlying investment contract between the token issuers and users who are buying the tokens on the secondary market. VALKYRIE INVESTMENTS FIRST TO OFFER ETHER FUTURES THROUGH ETF Gensler has said repeatedly during his tenure at the SEC, that most digital assets aside from Bitcoin and possibly Ethereum, constitute securities under the 1946 Howey Test, a Supreme Court decision that determines whether certain transactions qualify as investment contracts. If they do, they have to get registered with the Commission, a move crypto companies have resisted given the industry’s desire to remain outside of government control. Story continues The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is being displayed on a smartphone, with Bitcoin visible on the screen in the background, in this photo illustration taken in Brussels, Belgium, on January 9, 2024. The crypto industry, for its part, says the current SEC registration process doesn't cater to the nuances of blockchain technology, and it's therefore impossible for them to simply "come in and register" their products. It believes many token offerings don’t meet the Howey Test requirements because there's no underlying contract between issuers and buyers, a key requirement for satisfying the test. It also thinks the SEC is acting outside its mandate and that Congress should give jurisdiction to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, known for a slightly lighter touch when it comes to regulation. Failla has echoed the industry’s concerns that the SEC is broadening its horizons too much when it comes to crypto. "I am concerned that what you’re asking for is too broad a definition of what constitutes a security," Failla said during Wednesday’s hearing. "I care about how the law develops in this case before me and I care what it means going forward." The debate in the Coinbase case is being played out both in Congress and in other legal cases. In July, the crypto industry was handed a partial victory when U.S. Southern District Judge Torres ruled that the token XRP was not sold as an illegal security when it was traded between retail investors on exchanges. She also ruled that it was a security when it was sold by cross-border payments company Ripple Labs to institutional investors to finance the development of its platform. Torres's decision made clear that digital assets are not themselves securities, but the way in which they are transacted could make them subject to SEC oversight. The SEC has said it intends to appeal the Ripple decision. In August, another southern district judge, Jed Rakoff, known as the dean of securities jurists, sided with the SEC and ruled that Terraform Labs' LUNA and MIR tokens were indeed unregistered securities. Both Rakoff's and Torres's decisions were brought up frequently during the Coinbase hearing with the SEC relying on Rakoff's ruling to support its argument, while Coinbase lawyers used Torres's decision regarding secondary market sales to support theirs. Arguments from Coinbase, Ripple and others, that digital assets don't fit into the parameters of the Howey Test, have called into question whether securities laws written eighty years ago that were designed for the regulation of citrus grove investments, are still practical when it comes to regulating modern technology such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. BLACKROCK LAYOFFS COME AS FIRM AWAITS BITCOIN ETF DECISION FILE PHOTO: A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of Coinbase logo in this illustration taken, March 4, 2022. Congress is keeping track of the regulatory debate. GOP senator Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming asked Failla to dismiss the Coinbase suit because such enforcement actions will hamper the development of the underlying technology of crypto, known as the blockchain, which has transformational potential in reducing costs of various transactions. In an amicus brief in support of Coinbase, Lummis criticized the SEC for overstepping its authority. "The SEC’s attempt to shoehorn an entire new class of assets into the existing definition of a ‘security,’ and thereby add to the definition enumerated by Congress, exceeds the SEC’s authority, encroaches on Congress’s lawmaking, and contravenes the separation of powers," Lummis wrote. Lummis has been a vocal advocate of crypto, introducing legislation in the Senate that would help bring regulatory clarity to the industry. In the House, a handful of lawmakers, including Chairman of the Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry, have also been championing crypto with bills that will establish so-called regulatory rules of the road. Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 14, 2012. New York financial firms would move jobs overseas if the U.S. grants the industry’s request to exempt companies’ foreign branches from some Dodd-Frank Act rules, said Gensler. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images Original article source: Court decisions could rein in SEC authority over crypto industry

2024-01-19 00:45:17+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [457, 832]}

{}

TLT Adds 2% to AUM: ETF Fund Flows for Jan. 18

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tlt-adds-2-aum-etf-004517504.html

etf.com

https://www.etf.com/

etf.com Top 10 Creations (All ETFs) Ticker Name Net Flows ($, mm) AUM ($, mm) AUM % Change TLT iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF 976.00 49,520.01 1.97% IVV iShares Core S&P 500 ETF 882.87 405,309.65 0.22% VOO Vanguard 500 Index Fund 539.94 377,264.77 0.14% EWJ iShares MSCI Japan ETF 296.83 14,594.03 2.03% XLI Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund 227.56 15,393.69 1.48% VCIT Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF 225.46 45,567.78 0.49% IBIT iShares Bitcoin Trust 212.70 707.05 30.08% XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund 160.69 39,474.89 0.41% VT Vanguard Total World Stock ETF 142.14 31,934.77 0.45% AGG iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF 108.22 101,331.71 0.11% Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs) Ticker Name Net Flows ($, mm) AUM ($, mm) AUM % Change SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust -1,116.20 478,103.86 -0.23% GBTC Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF -594.44 25,563.63 -2.33% IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF -458.22 62,184.14 -0.74% SUSA iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF -454.71 3,812.58 -11.93% FJAN FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - January -378.21 433.24 -87.30% LQD iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF -349.43 36,941.04 -0.95% IWD iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF -325.94 51,938.53 -0.63% ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF -322.14 18,301.39 -1.76% HYG iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF -231.16 18,107.83 -1.28% JNK SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF -207.84 9,038.82 -2.30% ETF Daily Flows By Asset Class Net Flows ($, mm) AUM ($, mm) % of AUM Alternatives 22.75 6,704.97 0.34% Asset Allocation -12.02 16,302.08 -0.07% Commodities -396.77 126,556.73 -0.31% Currency -159.06 31,136.39 -0.51% International Equity 36.23 1,342,204.62 0.00% International Fixed Income 8.45 169,856.90 0.00% Inverse -247.26 14,866.03 -1.66% Leveraged -36.75 78,760.11 -0.05% U.S. Equity -1,750.31 4,925,683.08 -0.04% U.S. Fixed Income 465.87 1,360,619.98 0.03% Total: -2,068.86 8,072,690.90 -0.03% Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges. Permalink | © Copyright 2024 etf.com. All rights reserved View comments

2024-01-19 00:49:56+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [5362]}

{}

Japan’s Slowing Inflation Supports Case for BOJ to Wait Longer

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-inflation-cools-second-month-234430673.html

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s latest inflation report gives the Bank of Japan another reason to wait beyond next week’s meeting before ending the negative rate policy, while also adding to the case for a hike in coming months. Most Read from Bloomberg YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix Blinken’s Return From Davos Was Delayed After Plane Broke Down Trump Moves to Quash Hopes of Congress Ukraine, Border Deal Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep Him on Colorado Ballot Airstrikes on Yemen Bring New Level of Chaos to Shipping in the Southern Red Sea Growth in consumer prices excluding fresh food slowed to 2.3% in December from a year earlier, matching consensus, the internal affairs ministry reported Friday. Deeper drops in electricity and gas prices and a slower pace of gains for processed food weighed on the index. For a second month, prices for services rose 2.3%, the fastest pace in three decades excluding periods distorted by sales tax hikes. The data support the view that there’s no pressing need for the BOJ to rush into making its first rate hike since 2007 at its January meeting, with April touted by many economists as the most likely month. Friday’s data are the latest indication that cost-push inflationary pressure in Japan is easing, in line with what the BOJ has predicted would happen. Previous data showed that the December producer price index was flat versus a year earlier, the weakest showing in almost three years. Consumer price gains in Tokyo the same month eased to the slowest in over a year. “Cost-push inflation has eased a bit, but whether this will transfer into demand-pull inflation can’t yet be confirmed,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute. The price data aren’t expected to push the BOJ from its path toward eventually normalizing policy. The 2.3% rise in service prices is an indication that underlying inflation may be moving beyond temporary cost-push factors. Story continues “The ongoing deceleration in inflation doesn’t mean that BOJ’s normalization is off the table,” said Taro Saito, head of economic research at NLI Research Institute. “I don’t think inflation will be as strong as the BOJ expects but it’s going to settle somewhere between 1% and 2% and the BOJ will probably keep forecasting it to be around 2% so they can change policy.” He sees April as the likely month for a hike. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg unanimously predict the BOJ will keep its negative rate at a meeting concluding on Jan. 23, as authorities are still assessing the impact from a New Year’s Day quake that struck the nation’s northwest coast. READ: Ueda’s Signaling in Focus as BOJ Mulls Timing of Rate Hike The bank will also publish an updated quarterly outlook at the meeting with board members likely to discuss cutting their forecast for core CPI in the fiscal year from April to around 2.5% from 2.8% due to falling oil prices, people familiar said. Friday’s report showed prices for electricity and gas fell by almost 21% in December from a year earlier. Subsidies for electricity and gas shaved 0.49 percentage point off the overall inflation figures. Prices of processed food rose at a slower pace of 6.2%. Among outliers, prices for lodging soared 59%, reflecting the end of a separate government subsidy and stronger demand from resurgent inbound tourism. A deeper measure of inflation that strips out fresh food and energy prices decelerated to 3.7%, also in line with forecasts. Some economists have said this measure of prices is a truer indication of where inflation lies as it factors out volatile energy prices that have also been affected by government subsidies. What Bloomberg Economics Says... “All in all, the CPI report offers little to convince the BOJ that its 2% target is secure. We expect it to hold policy steady at its Jan. 22-23 meeting.” — Taro Kimura, economist For the full report, click here Governor Kazuo Ueda has said inflation will pick up again after a temporary lull, and a key focus will be annual wage talks culminating in March. BOJ officials view their price projections as already high enough by being around 2% or higher, and their focus now is whether the certainty for the outlook will increase sufficiently, people familiar with the matter have said. While the BOJ continues to aim for sustainable inflation as part of a virtuous wage-price cycle, persistent price increases have been among the factors weighing on support ratings for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his cabinet, as households strain under rising costs of living. Japan’s inflation has stayed above the BOJ’s 2% goal since April 2022. With wage gains lagging prices, households have seen their real incomes fall for 20 months through November. Kishida stepped up his campaign to encourage companies to conduct wage hikes that outpace inflation at a meeting with executives from small- and medium-size companies on Monday. The yen’s recent retreat to around 148 to the dollar could revive import price pressure in coming months. Japan’s currency traded around 143.80 to the dollar on average in December, compared with 149.81 in November. --With assistance from Keiko Ujikane. (Adds economists’ comments) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek The Downfall of Diddy Inc. Japan’s Market Roars Back to Life—With Old-Timers Leading the Way The Bitcoin Hype Is Back and About Just as Hollow as Before Elon Moves Further Right; Hertz Ditches Tesla ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.