NOTABLE MOVES
As of Tue, Dec 11, 08:00 GMT (UTC +08:00)
USDJPY, +0.04%, $113.38.
EURUSD, -0.30%, $1.1322.
GBPUSD, -0.55%, $1.2492.
USDCAD, -0.12%, $1.3379.
AUDUSD, +0.32%, $0.7213.
S&P500, -0.04%, 2,636.78
Nasdaq, +0.16%, 7,031.83
Nikkei Futures, +0.75%, 21,297.5
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- U.S. PPI m/m at 0.1% vs expected 0.0%. Core PPI m/m at 0.3% vs expected 0.1%. The key takeaway from the report is that it didn’t inflame inflation concerns to an alarming degree, like the October report did, so market participants have not been bothered by the idea that it will drive the Fed to be overly aggressive with future rate hikes.
- German ZEW Economic Sentiment at -17.5 vs expected -25.0. In the Union, Italy’s Finance Minister Tria said that the government isn’t planning major changes to the budget, ahead of a meeting between EU’s Juncker and Italy’s PM Conte later today. Also, French President Macron is facing a non-confidence vote from left-wing opposition after riots took over Paris.
- In London trading, Sterling was boosted by some comments from Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney, who said that there is potential for a new statement from the EU on the Irish backstop, although clarifying it’s not going to change. Later in the day, news that Germany’s Merkel rejected UK’s May attempt to renegotiate the Brexit deal and renewed speculation that MPs have sent 48 letters for a non-confidence vote on PM May, took Sterling down on the day. Data held little interest for the market as all eyes remain on the Brexit negotiations. U.K. Average Earnings Index 3m/y at 3.3% vs expected 3.0%. Unemployment Rate inline at 4.1%.
- Aussie HPI q/q inline at -1.5%. News that US and Chinese negotiators had some productive discussions on trade, kicked things off in Asia with AUDUSD popping above the 0.7200 figure on hopes that some sort of deal could be worked out over the next several months.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- Stocks jumped in early morning trading amid news that high-ranking officials from the U.S. and China resumed trade discussions over the phone. The progress stirred up some optimism that the controversial arrest of Huawei Technologies CFO, Meng Wanzhou, would not impede trade negotiations as was previously feared. The S&P 500 finished flat on Tuesday, squandering two intraday rally efforts, as headline volatility surrounding politics and trade contributed to another day of whipsaw trading action. The benchmark S&P 500 index traded as high as 1.4% shortly after the start of trading, but surrendered the entirety of that gain and was down as much as -0.6% in the afternoon. It mounted a late recovery charge, trading up as much as 0.8%, but then rolled over in the last 30 minutes. The Wall Street Journal reported that China verbally agreed to reduce U.S. import auto tariffs to 15% from 40%, which followed a Bloomberg article from the morning that said China had submitted a proposal to reduce the tariffs. General Motors (GM 34.69, +0.27, +0.8%) and Ford Motor (F 8.54, +0.02, +0.2%) reacted favorably to the news.
Just Two ASIC Bitcoin Mining Rigs Remain Profitable in Current Markets
Amid the cryptocurrency market crash, even the newest crypto mining machines are struggling to seal profits for their operators. AMV is a site that calculates real-time profitability rates for “ASIC” miners, hardware that uses Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips, tailored to efficiently mine cryptocurrency based on a specific hashing algorithm. Updated every minute, the site calculates profit yields for specific miners based on current power costs, network difficulty, block rewards, and cryptocurrency prices. the site indicates that among ASIC mining machines geared to mine coins that are based on cryptographic hash function “SHA-256” –– such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) –– only two are currently making any profit and show $0.58 and $0.21 in daily profits. The currently most profitable machine, the Ebit 11++, was released by Chinese mining hardware manufacturer Ebang Communication and is currently priced at $2,024.
Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange Insures Its Crypto Assets With Local Broker
The Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) announced that it is offering insurance on all of the assets listed on its platform, in an official GBX blog post Dec. 10. The exchange reports that it will use local firm Callaghan Insurance Brokers to insure its assets, specifying that “all assets in the custody of the GBX are fully insured, including both hot and cold wallets.” The policy also reportedly “covers all forms of professional indemnity.” GBX, a subsidiary of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX), opened in July of this year and has raised a total of $27 million in funding. In the past 24 hours, the exchange saw about $8.5 million in trades. Gibraltar’s government has recently shown interest in the regulation and development of blockchain technology in the country by launching an advisory group meant to develop blockchain-related educational courses.
Crypto.com Nets Ex-PayPal Exec to Increase Merchant Cryptocurrency Adoption
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payment platform Crypto.com has hired a former PayPal executive. Tyson Hackwood will join the crypto firm as its senior vice president and head of global merchant acquisition. Crypto.com seeks to increase consumer and merchant adoption for point-of-sale (PoS) transactions. Hackwood was previously head of the Australian branch of PayPal Here, the company’s own PoS division, followed a role as head of Asia Pacific for mobile and web payment offshoot Braintree. “Tyson will play an important role in expanding the number and quality of merchants that are part of our network,” the CEO of Crypto.com Kris Marszalek commented. Hackwood said he would additionally focus on increasing merchant uptake of the Crypto.com product, at a time when multiple competitors are seeking to corner the PoS market. Despite the downturn in cryptocurrency prices throughout 2018, the number is tipped to expand beyond crypto industry names such as BitPay and Coinbase.