As of Mon, Dec 17, 08:00 GMT (UTC +08:00)
USDJPY, -0.49%, $112.84.
EURUSD, +0.39%, $1.1349.
GBPUSD, +0.24%, $1.2614.
USDCAD, +0.19%, $1.3413 .
S&P500, -2.08%, 2,545.94
Nasdaq, -2.27%, 6,753.73
Nikkei Futures, -0.64%, 21,177.0
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- It was light on the data front with no notable prints on Monday.
- Softening economic data fuelled concerns about the growth outlook and compounded the market’s negative bias. The NAHB Housing Market Index for December fell from 60 to 56, which is its lowest level in nearly four years. The Empire Manufacturing Index for December, meanwhile, dropped to 10.9 from 23.3. Mounting losses in the stock market have raised the stakes in front of Wednesday’s FOMC announcement, which many participants still think is going to produce another rate hike and at the same time see the Fed temper its rate-hike projections for 2019. Trump yesterday questioned again why the Fed would be raising rates at this time.
- E.U. Final CPI y/y at 1.9% vs expected 2.0%. Final Core CPI y/y inline at 1.0%. Over the weekend, the EU rejected any additional compromise on the Irish backstop issue, essentially refusing to provide UK with any timeline for withdrawal of EU rules. With most European institutions now headed for the annual Christmas break, negotiations will be on hold until next January and with March deadline fast approaching, the pressure on policymakers is sure to rise. Given the limited time, there appear to be only three scenarios – 1. UK Parliament approves May’s deal, 2. The government gives up and calls a 2nd referendum 3. The situation devolves into a no-deal hard Brexit.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- The S&P 500 lost -2.08% on Monday, as uncertainty surrounding a host of issues continued to drive an inclination to sell into strength and to reduce risk exposure to stocks. The benchmark index (2545.94) ran into resistance at the 2600 level amid a morning rebound effort before steadily backpedaling throughout the afternoon and re-testing its February low (2532.69). That re-test invited some late buying interest that enabled the indices to close off their worst levels of the day.
- Influential fund manager, Jeffrey Gundlach, contributed to the bearish price action. In a CNBC interview, he expressed ample concern about the rising U.S. budget deficit, while adding that he thinks passive investing has reached “mania” status and that investors should avoid index funds. Gundlach also said his best idea for 2019 is “capital preservation.”
- Goldman Sachs (GS 168.05, -4.72, -2.7%) underperformed after Malaysian authorities reportedly filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs related to the 1MDB scandal. The health care sector (-2.1%) for its part fell amid the uncertainty attached to a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. That decision will head to an Appeals Court and most experts believe it is ultimately headed to the Supreme Court. Xerox (XRX 21.29, -3.16) was the biggest laggard in the S&P 500 with a loss of -12.9% after Moody’s cut Xerox’s senior unsecured debt ratings to Ba1 from Baa3. The cut from investment grade to junk status was due to an uncertain revenue base amid a decline in demand for copy and printing services as well as intense global competition, according to Bloomberg.
Ethereum Unique Addresses Break 50 Million, Active Wallet Number Keeps Dropping
The number of unique Ethereum (ETH) wallet addresses has broken 50 million on Saturday, Dec. 15. On Saturday, the Ethereum network saw a daily increase of 168,506 unique crypto wallets, following a steady growing trend this year. With that, the highest historical daily growth of unique Ethereum addresses took place on Jan. 4, 2018, with 352,888 new addresses created on the Ethereum network. the number of active Ethereum addresses has been decreasing steadily throughout 2018. Having peaked at around 1.1 million on Jan. 4, 2018, the amount of active Ethereum addresses has dropped below 1 million in mid-January, and has fallen by around 70 percent over the year — to 328,400 addresses recorded yesterday, Dec. 16. The latest recorded number of unique Bitcoin (BTC) wallets accounted for 364,387 on Dec. 15, down from around 1 million on Jan. 3, 2018. The number of active BTC addresses amounts to around 461,000, as recorded yesterday, Dec. 16
Over 400,000 ETH Left ICO Team Wallets in the Past Thirty Days, Data Shows
Initial coin offerings (ICO) have been transacting Ethereum (ETH) at breakneck speed, with over 400,000 ETH moving out of wallets in the past 30 days alone, according to data from crypto assets data and software development firm Santiment published Dec. 17. Santiment’s data sample notably does not track the ETH “all the way to exchanges,” with the metric therefore not a hard and fast confirmation that the ETH has necessarily subsequently been sold. Santiment gives a breakdown of the specific wallets in its sample, ranking the ICO teams according to the amount of ETH “spent” over the thirty-day period. According to its rankings, SingularDTV — a blockchain platform for the entertainment industry — came top out of a total of 39 projects, “spending” 60,370 ETH since mid November: the team wallet still holds around 165, 000 ETH, having reportedly raised an initial 585,430.62 ETH in its token sale. Other major ICO ETH “sellers” this past month are Aragon (50,000 ETH), Kyber Network (47,290 ETH), Friendz (40,870 ETH) and Status (40,000 ETH).
German State Bank KfW Tests Blockchain App for Public Finance Management in Burkina Faso
Germany’s major state-owned bank KfW and Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Finance will test a blockchain application for use in public financial management. According to the recent blockchain-related announcement, TruBudget, an open source app developed by KfW, will be tested in Burkina Faso, Africa within the next six months with the assistance of global consulting companies Accenture and BearingPoint. The application will allow users to store and approve all the contracts in the sector using blockchain in real-time mode. The bank expects it could help reduce lengthy manual processes and ensure that funds are used properly. KfQ, ranked in 2017 as the country’s third largest bank by total assets, had also previously signed an agreement with the Burkinabe government in June 2018, providing the country with a credit of €7 million ($7.9 million) to finance water supply and sanitation areas.