Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 28 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES  

As of Sat, Jan 26, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, -0.08%, $109.55.
EURUSD, +0.96%, $1.1415    
GBPUSD, +1.05%, $1.3203
USDCAD, -0.97%, $1.3219
AUDUSD, +1.24%, $0.7183
NZDUSD, +1.12%, $0.6839    

S&P500, +0.85%, 2,664.76    
Nasdaq, +1.29%, 7,164.86                     
Nikkei Futures, +1.07%, 20,780.0  

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP  

  • After being shutdown for 35 days, Trump announced on Friday that a deal has been reached to reopen the government for 3 weeks until February 15th. In this time, he expects both Democrats and Republicans to work together on a Homeland Security package that will include funding for border walls. The agreement will include back pay for furloughed workers, which is good news but the debate on the wall will resume in a few weeks and having gotten what they wanted with very little concessions, the Democrats won’t turn around and support border funding easily. Risk currencies rallied after Trump’s announcement but the Dollar pulled back as investors will look forward to a barrage of economic releases that should confirm the slowing economy.
  • U.S. Treasuries ended the day on a lower note, pushing the 2-yr yield and the 10-yr yield up four basis points each to 2.60% and 2.75%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index fell -0.9% to 95.75, pulled back by a rebound in the euro. WTI crude rose 0.9% to $53.62/bbl.

STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 0.9% on Friday as positive-sounding headlines, which included the temporary reopening of the government, helped lift investor sentiment. Friday’s gains helped pare the benchmark index’s weekly losses to 0.2%. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed the day in positive territory with the cyclical materials (+1.9%), information technology (+1.5%), and industrial (+1.3%) groups setting the pace. Conversely, the utilities (-1.3%) and consumer staples (-0.2%) sectors were the lone groups to finish in the red.
  • Stocks jumped at the open on initial speculation that a deal to reopen the government was imminent; hope the Federal Reserve may be getting close to the end of its balance sheet normalization effort; and a contention from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin that the U.S. is making progress with China trade talks. Notably, news hit in the afternoon session that an agreement had been struck to provide funding, minus border security funding, to re-open the government through February 15.  Negotiations over border security funding will take place in the interim, and a failure to reach a compromise on that front could result in another shutdown or a declaration of a national emergency in order to secure funding. The market’s response to the news was relatively muted, partially because it had already priced in some type of an agreement, and partially because it realizes it is only a temporary solution.
  • The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was a notable area of strength on Friday, rising 2.2% after its best session in nearly 10 years the day before. A disappointing earnings report from Intel (INTC 47.04, -2.72, -5.5%) did not dampen buying interest in the group, but it did hurt the stock. In other earnings news, Western Digital (WDC 43.16, +3.02) rose 7.5% with an upbeat outlook for the second half of 2019 offsetting weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings and guidance. In addition, Starbucks (SBUX 67.09, +2.35, +3.6%) impressed investors with its fiscal first quarter report and full-year outlook.

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

SBI Crypto Subsidiary Supports Crypto Mobile Wallet in $15 Million Funding Round

Cryptocurrency mobile wallet BRD has raised $15 million in a Series B financing round supported by SBI Crypto Investment. SBI Crypto Investment, a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based SBI Holdings, contributed to the funding, which BRD states will help to accelerate international expansion and scale its technology platform. According to the press release BRD announced the availability of cryptocurrency purchases through the use of SEPA transfers in the European market through a partnership with crypto payment provider Coinify. SBI Group is a financial based conglomerate based out of Japan that was established in 1999 and provides a broad range of financial services from securities to banking and insurance. Last week, SBI Holdings had announced an undisclosed investment in crypto firm Breadwinner AG, which is the developer of the BRD mobile crypto wallet. The press release notes that BRD is available in over 170 countries and has 1.8 million mobile users in total, with a total of $55 million raised in funding and $6 billion in assets kept on its platform.

NYSE Arca Files Paperwork for Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Approval

Bitwise Asset Management announced its intention to launch the ETF earlier this month. If approved, it would be the first bitcoin ETF to make it to market in the U.S. At the time, the company said NYSE Arca would file the 19b-4 rule change proposal in the near future. NYSE Arca indeed filed the form the same day, but it is not listed on any SEC website, possibly due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. As a result, the document went largely unnoticed, despite being posted on NYSE Arca’s own website. The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest. Previous bitcoin ETF proposals have been withdrawn or rejected, with Cboe most recently pulling its joint effort with VanEck and SolidX earlier this week. VanEck CEO Jan van Eck cited the government shutdown as a key reason for this, explaining that the companies were having conversations with the SEC prior to the shutdown, but that these conversations had ceased. He said that the companies would re-file after the government re-opens.

Fifteen Alleged Operators of $8 Million Crypto Scam Arrested in Taiwan

Police in New Taipei, Taiwan, have arrested fifteen suspects for allegedly running a cryptocurrency scam that earned them millions of dollars. The arrested suspects have been reportedly charged with fraud, and the case has been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The group allegedly defrauded over 30 people in the country of nearly NT$250 million (equivalent to about $8.16 million). They promoted IBCoin, an Ethereum (ETH) ERC20 token aiming to be a means of payment for the adult entertainment industry, according to its promotional material. The alleged fraudsters reportedly also publicized the scheme on Facebook, posting pictures of expensive cars and luxurious lifestyles to lure in new victims. According to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), no victim has ever seen any return on their investment and the token has no real value since “there are currently no known companies that trade or deal in IBCoins.”

Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 25 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Fri, Jan 25, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.00%, $109.60
EURUSD, -0.59%, $1.1314
GBPUSD, +0.39%, $1.3120
USDCAD, +0.08%, $0.6762
AUDUSD, -0.70%, $0.7092
NZDUSD, -0.37%, $0.6762

S&P500, +0.14%, 2,642.33
Nasdaq, +0.68%, 7,073.46
Nikkei Futures, -0.01%, 20,557.0    

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • The US Senate has rejected two bills to end the government shutdown, leaving no end in sight to the record-breaking closure of federal agencies. The Republican legislation failed by 50-47 and the Democratic bill followed suit by 52-44. Both measures were long shots, needing 60 votes to pass. Afterwards, Trump told reporters at the White House that he would only sign a bill if it included a “down payment” on a border barrier.
  • Weekly initial claims decreased by 13,000 to 199,000 (consensus 219,000) for the week ending January 19. That is the lowest level of initial claims since November 15, 1969. Continuing claims for the week ending January 12 dropped by 24,000 to 1.713 million. The key takeaway from the report is that the low level of initial claims is reflective of a tight labor market.
  • U.S. Treasuries ended on a higher note, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield decreased three basis points to 2.56%, and the 10-yr yield decreased four basis points to 2.71%. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.4% to 96.53, benefiting at the expense of the euro, which fell on the back of Draghi’s cautious remarks. WTI crude rose 1.0% to $53.15/bbl.
  • ECB’s Draghi, whose term ends in October, acknowledged on Thursday that the euro zone’s economic risks have moved to the downside. Draghi commented, “We were unanimous about acknowledging the weaker momentum and changing the balance of risk for growth.” Although there was no change in policy at Thursday’s ECB meeting, Draghi signalled the bank would react should the data continue to disappoint. The ECB gave no indication of whether it was preparing to cut interest rates, saying its governing council “expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019”. Eurozone growth fell to its lowest level in four years in the third quarter, with the region’s economy expanding by just 0.2 per cent. The bank had hoped in mid-December that the weakness would prove temporary. However, almost all of the data published since then has been disappointing. Thursday’s PMI data provided more signs that growth would not rebound in the fourth quarter, suggesting the economy faced more pervasive problems than initially thought.
  • Elsewhere, the Aussie flipped on traders after the positive labor data release (21.6K vs Consensus 17.3K) was offset by news that NAB, one Australia’s four big banks is raising interest rates which would make mortgages more expensive and further depress the already slumping housing market. 

STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 eked out a gain of 0.14% on Thursday as it wavered between small gains and losses throughout the day. Another round of better-than-expected corporate earnings coupled with ongoing global growth concerns contributed to a mixed session on Wall Street.
  • Some discouraging commentary from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi helped temper buying interest. Specifically, Ross said the U.S. and China are still “miles and miles” from reaching a trade deal, and Draghi acknowledged that significant stimulus is still needed for the eurozone. These comments stirred concerns about the pace of future economic growth, which in turn stirred concerns about the pace of future earnings growth.
  • The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was a notable pocket of strength on Thursday, rising 5.7% on the back of some strong earnings reports. Heavyweight component Texas Instruments (TXN 102.09, +6.60) rose 6.9%, while Lam Research (LRCX 161.20, +21.87, +15.7%), Xilinx (106.06, +16.51, +18.4%), and Teradyne (TER 36.04, +4.11, +12.9%) each surged well over 10% following their earnings reports. In addition, better-than-feared earnings and guidance from the transport stocks, particularly the airlines, helped lift the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+1.1%) and the industrial sector.
  • American Airlines (AAL 33.66, +2.01, +6.4%), Southwest Air (LUV 54.21, +3.19, +6.3%), JetBlue (JBLU 18.12, +0.88, +5.1%), and Union Pacific (UNP 160.34, +6.01, +3.9%) all beat earnings and revenue estimates.
  • McCormick (MKC 124.35, -14.65) ] dropped -10.5% after it missed Q4 top and bottom-line estimates and guided fiscal 2019 earnings and revenue below consensus. Its poor performance was a huge drag on the consumer staples sector (-1.3%). PG&E (PCG 13.95, +5.96, +74.6%) surged late in the day on a report that a California investigation cleared the company from issues surrounding the 2017 Tubbs wildfire.

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

Singapore’s Monetary Authority Halts Local STO Due to Regulatory Violations

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has prevented a local initial coin offering (ICO) from launching a security token offering (STO) in the country. Under the current rules, all STOs have to comply with Singapore’s securities laws and are obliged to register with the MAS. In case the owners want the offering to fall under an exemption, they should be aware of conditions, including advertising restrictions, the MAS notes. The issuer of the halted, unnamed STO intended to rely on the exemption that would allow them to launch an offering without registering with the MAS. However, the issuer failed to comply with the advertising prohibition and posted a promotional article to LinkedIn. Shortly after the MAS warning, the issuer has temporarily suspended the STO. The MAS has also warned investors about the risks linked with token offerings, such as possible price speculation, the possibility of fraud and the lack of a proven track record from the companies. The financial authority urges customers to evaluate these risks before investing money.

Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital to Raise $250 Million to Offer Crypto Loans

Mike Novogratz’s crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital is reportedly raising at least $250 million to offer loans to crypto-related firms, according to an unconfirmed report published by American news site Business Insider. Citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter, the news outlet claims that Galaxy Digital is purportedly planning to close the first fundraising round for its crypto credit fund in March. Galaxy’s lenders will be able to get their loans by using crypto assets, real estate and crypto mining hardware as deposits. Two anonymous individuals also noted that Galaxy decided to launch its own fund after seeing an increased demand for crypto lending services from firms amidst the bear market in 2018. Founded by former Goldman Sachs partner Michael Novogratz, Galaxy Digital is already lending to crypto businesses using its own balance sheet. Recently, Novogratz — who is both Galaxy’s founder and CEO — has increased his shares of the company by up to 79.3 percent of ordinary shares assuming their conversion, which reportedly amounts to 221.2 million ordinary shares.

Samsung’s Previously Denied Ethereum Wallet Surfaces in Allegedly Leaked Galaxy S10 Images

Images allegedly portraying the upcoming smartphone Samsung Galaxy S10 showing a “Samsung Blockchain Keystore” app surfaced on Twitter on Jan. 23. The reportedly leaked photos feature only an Ethereum (ETH) wallet option in the “supported cryptocurrencies” list. Even if those images portrait real software that will be present on the upcoming smartphone, it may gain support for other cryptos as the development continues before the launch. The leak seemingly confirms the rumors that Samsung has plans to offer a cryptocurrency cold wallet on this smartphone, an addition that had been denied in December last year. Samsung applied for a trademark in the United Kingdom for a cryptocurrency wallet. However, after the aforementioned trademark application, a senior executive at Samsung said in an interview with computing magazine JAX that decentralization is a more important phenomenon than blockchain.

Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 24 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Thu, Jan 24, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.15%, $109.54
EURUSD, +0.20%, $1.1381
GBPUSD, +0.92%, $1.3077
USDCAD, -0.09%, $1.3342
AUDUSD, +0.29%, $0.7144
NZDUSD, +0.60%, $0.6791

S&P500, +0.22%, 2,638.70
Nasdaq, +0.08%, 7,025.77
Nikkei Futures, -0.31%, 20,497.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • As we head into day 34 of the U.S. government shutdown, the battle in Washington is heated. Trump said he plans to go ahead with delivering his State of Union Address next week but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to allow him to deliver the speech from the House chamber (its usual venue) while the government is in shutdown. Today the Senate is scheduled to vote on Trump’s latest proposal and a short term spending bill from the Democrats that would help reopen the government until February 8th. Considering that neither party has a majority and both resist the other’s proposals, these votes are widely expected to fail leading to a continued shutdown. In the unlikely scenario that one passes, the Dollar will react positively.
  • U.S. Treasuries ended on a lower note, although the bulk of the session saw a steady climb off opening lows. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 2.59%, and the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.76%. The U.S. Dollar Index lost -0.2% to 96.12. WTI crude lost -0.8% to $52.63/bbl.
  • BoJ kept its QQE with yield curve control and its forward guidance unchanged. At the same time, it cut the inflation outlook significantly by 0.5pp in the fiscal year (Apr-Mar) 2019. The growth outlook was also cut but only for the current fiscal year whereas the FY 2019 and FY 2020 forecasts were revised slightly upwards. On the recent global development, the BoJ kept the sentence ‘overseas economies have continued to grow firmly on the whole’. This highlights that the BoJ expects the current global slowdown to be temporary and the recent weak Japanese export figures to bounce back once a trade agreement has been reached between the US and China.

STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 0.22% on Wednesday in what was an uneven day of trading. The benchmark index was up as much as 0.8% shortly after the start of trading, lost as much as -0.8% by midday, and teetered around its flat line for most of the afternoon. Most S&P 500 sectors finished higher with consumer staples (+1.2%) and utilities (+1.1%) outperforming. Conversely, the energy (-1.0%) and material (-0.7%) sectors underperformed the broader market and were the lone sectors ending with a loss.
  • Stocks had rallied at the open on some earnings beats and reassuring guidance from Dow components IBM (IBM 132.89, +10.37, +8.5%), Procter & Gamble (PG 94.84, +4.40, +4.9%), and United Technologies (UTX 117.04, +5.98, +5.4%).

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

UK Financial Regulator Releases Consultation Paper on Crypto
The United Kingdom’s financial regulator has published a consultation paper titled “Guidance on Cryptoassets”. The stated goal of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) paper on cryptocurrency is to provide more regulatory clarity on the subject for market participants. The consultation period on crypto, which the paper initiates, is scheduled to end on April 5, 2019, after which a policy statement with final guidance is set to be released. In its introduction to the paper, the FCA declares that the final version is meant to “help market participants to understand whether the cryptoassets they use are within the regulatory perimeter.”  In the paper, the FCA outlines various possible definitions of crypto assets and applicable U.K. laws.  In particular, the guidance paper notes that crypto assets could be considered “Specified Investments” under the state’s Regulated Activities Order (RAO) or “Financial Instruments” regulated by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II. The FCA’s crypto asset guidance places cryptocurrencies into three potential categories, namely exchange tokens, security tokens and utility tokens. So-called exchange tokens, the regulator writers, are those “not issued or backed by any central authority and are intended and designed to be used as a means of exchange.”

Hong Kong Hardware Manufacturer Releases Mining GPU for New Privacy-Oriented Coin
Hong Kong-based computer hardware manufacturer Sapphire has announced a new graphics card for mining the recently-launched GRIN Coin, according to an official press release published on Jan. 22. GRIN, which was released earlier this month, is a privacy-oriented token that is touted as a fully decentralized and democratized digital asset. The token is based on mimblewimble technology, which in theory grants users in the network with solid anonymity, by encrypting the value of a transaction using “blinding factors.” The new graphics processing unit (GPU) from Sapphire will purportedly be able to solve the Cuckoo Cycle algorithm which forms the basis of Grin’s proof-of-work (PoW). The GPU is not currently available for sale, but will eventually be released on the company’s website.

US: Pennsylvania Rules That Crypto Exchanges, ATMs Are Not Money Transmitters
The American state of Pennsylvania has clarified that cryptocurrency exchanges do not fall subject to the Money Transmitter Act (MTA), according to a Department of Banking and Securities (DoBS) document. The document clarifies crypto exchanges thus do not require a license to offer their services to Pennsylvania residents. The MTA — otherwise referred to as the Money Transmission Business Licensing Law — provides that “[n]o person shall engage in the business of transmitting money by means of a transmittal instrument for a fee or other consideration with or on behalf of an individual without first having obtained a license from the [DoBS]. According to the document, digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) are not deemed to be “money” under the MTA — which is defined as being “currency or legal tender or any other product that is generally recognized as a medium of exchange.The document also clarifies that in regard to crypto kiosks, ATMs and vending machines — regardless of whether they enable one-or two-way deposits and exchange of crypto and fiat — no money transmission is deemed to be involved, as there is no transfer of money to a third party.

Cryptocurrency, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 22 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Tue, Jan 22, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, 0.00%, $109.68
EURUSD, +0.02%, $1.1367
GBPUSD, +0.30%, $1.2891
USDCAD, +0.15%, $1.3296
AUDUSD, -0.07%, $0.7158
NZDUSD, -0.18%, $0.6728

S&P500 (Closed)
Nasdaq (Closed)
Nikkei Futures, -0.47%, 20,755.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • The U.S. stock and bond markets were closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day.
  • The main event of the day was the “Plan B” announcement by UK PM May to Parliament. It was much of the same, but in doing so, the impetus is put back on the lawmakers to propose other plans that will be debated on, and then voted. While May stuck doggedly to her deal, she also acknowledged that control over Brexit wasn’t entirely in her hands. Assuming they are approved, the EU would then need to review and approve. May said that she had heeded politicians’ concerns over an insurance policy known as the “backstop” that is intended to guarantee there are no customs checks along the border between EU member Ireland and the UK’s Northern Ireland after Brexit.
  • May’s immediate goal is to win over pro-Brexit Conservatives and her party’s Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party. Both groups say they won’t back the deal unless the border backstop is removed. Pro-Brexit U.K. lawmakers fear Britain could become trapped in it, indefinitely bound by EU trade rules. In a nod to opposition parties’ concerns, she promised to consult lawmakers, trade unionists, business groups and civil society organisations “to try to find the broadest possible consensus” on future ties between Britain and the EU, and said the government wouldn’t water down protections for the environment and workers’ rights after Brexit.

Some takeaways from PM May:

  • She rejected the idea of holding a second Brexit referendum, saying it would threaten “social cohesion” in Britain.
  • She refuses a no-deal exit from EU.
  • She was ambiguous with regards to extending the Article 50 date, but later in questioning did not rule out an extension of the March 29 end date
  • She wants EU to work on an Irish backstop framework that would be more palatable to UK
  • In a concession to many lawmakers, she has dropped the charge that was to be levied on EU nationals who wanted to apply for settled status and was hoping that the EU would do the same

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

Digital Garage to Test Yen-Pegged Stablecoin on Blockstream Network

An arm of Tokyo-listed internet group Digital Garage is working with bitcoin infrastructure startup Blockstream to test the issuance of a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin. Reportedly, Crypto Garage has launched a new platform dubbed SettleNet that would allow app development on Blockstream’s inter-exchange settlement network Liquid, including the issuance of stablecoins. The initiative, slated to last for a year, is one of the first proof-of-concept trials authorized under a regulatory sandbox program managed by the Japanese government. The project aims to let participating members – specifically, crypto exchanges licensed in Japan at this stage – test the SettleNet platform to issue the stablecoin and to provide a settlement service between the stablecoin and crypto assets. Blockstream also participated in building the platform. Liquid is a bitcoin sidechain project that went live in October. For the trial, transactions will be conducted in limited volume. Digital Garage initially collaborated with Blockstream in November 2017 with an aim of fostering blockchain development in Japan.

Japan: Regulators Approve Startup’s Bitcoin Sidechain Trial for Exchanges

Japanese blockchain development company Crypto Garage announced it had gained regulatory permission to trial its settlement system using Blockstream’s Liquid Sidechain. Crypto Garage will conduct a one-year pilot with a group of participating cryptocurrency exchanges. The product, dubbed Settlenet, uses Liquid as part of an arrangement allowing exchanges to issue yen-pegged stablecoins and trade against Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC), Blockstream’s sidechain. The feature also makes use of so-called ‘atomic swaps,’ the ability to make cross-blockchain transactions without manually converting assets. That will enable rapid, secure and confidential transfer of the crypto assets while eradicating counterparty risk. Settlenet will provide the regulatory authorities with the functionality to monitor any unlawful trade, including money laundering. Blockstream launched Liquid as the first public, production-ready Bitcoin sidechain in October 2018.

Wyoming Bill Would Clear the Way for Crypto Custody at Banks

Wyoming may soon become the first state in the U.S. to provide clear banking permissions for cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Caitlin Long, co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, said that the bill is a major step forward for the state. “A lot of companies are setting up as New York trust companies … the [Wyoming proposal] is a much better license than a New York Trust license because it’s [aimed at banks] and it’s in a state that has clarified the legal status of digital assets. Those two things are equally important,” she said. “There isn’t another state that’s providing that clarity.” One of the most notable aspects of the bill is the support it has upon its introduction. The leadership of both Wyoming’s House and Senate are cosponsoring the bill, which includes members from both the Democratic and Republican parties. There had also been an alternative proposal in the works, Long explained, which would have classified cryptocurrencies similarly to securities and would have forced owners to store such assets through intermediaries.

Cryptocurrency, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 21 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Sat, Jan 19, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.49%, $109.78
EURUSD, -0.31%, $1.1363
GBPUSD, -0.80%, $1.2882
USDCAD, -0.17%, $1.3254
AUDUSD, -0.36%, $0.7168
NZDUSD, -0.31%, $0.6743

S&P500, +1.32%, 2,670.71.
Nasdaq, +0.98%, 6,784.61.
Nikkei Futures, +1.38%, 20,630.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • Industrial production increased 0.3% in December (consensus 0.2%) on top of a downwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.6%) in November. The capacity utilization rate rose to 78.7% (consensus 78.6%). The key takeaway from the report is that there was notable strength in manufacturing output (hard data), which saw its largest gain since February 2018 and helped alleviate some of the concerns surrounding the softening ISM Manufacturing Index (and soft survey data) for December.
  • The yield on the 2-yr Treasury note rose five basis points to 2.61%, and the yield on the 10-yr Treasury note rose four basis points to 2.78%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.3% to 96.37.
  • Sterling fell on Friday ahead of the government’s release of Plan B. Based on the options for plan B, May has little choice but to ask the EU for more time, which is why by today, Article 50 should be extended. It then goes to vote by EU member states who are widely expected to approve the request. However it won’t be an open ended extension. The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Verhofstadt suggested that he’s open to an extension to May and not beyond that because he doesn’t want Brexit opinions to spill over to European parliamentary elections.

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 1.32% on Friday, boosted by trade talk optimism and waning concerns about the U.S. economic outlook. Friday’s gains extended the benchmark index’s weekly gain to 2.9%.
  • Friday’s presumed catalyst was a Bloomberg News report highlighting China’s willingness to eliminate the U.S. trade imbalance. According to the report, China made an offer during trade negotiations earlier this month to boost the amount of U.S. imports, such that the trade balance with the U.S. would be $0 by 2024. It’s not the news itself that sparked an extended rally, but the tenor of recent trade headlines that have fed hope for a meaningful trade deal. It is evident that the market is beginning to price in the positive effects of a trade deal, which, if struck, should bode well for global growth and corporate earnings prospects.
  • In other corporate news, Tesla (TSLA 302.26, -45.05) dropped -13.0% following plans to reduce its full-time staff by approximately 7%. The company hopes that a reduction can help produce its Model 3 at a more affordable price point for the masses.

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY WRAP 

Former Governor of French Central Bank Joins Board of Directors of Blockchain Firm Setl

Founded in 2015, Setl is a financial company with a focus on blockchain technology. Setl has built a blockchain-based infrastructure for institutional payments and settlements, with a reported capacity of over 1 billion transactions per day. Setl has hired former governor of the French central bank Christian Noyer as a member of its board of directors. According to the most recent announcement, Noyer has joined the board of directors of Setl, bringing a “wealth of experience in the financial, regulatory, economic management and central banking world.” Noyer’s professional experience includes serving as Vice President of the European Central Bank, Governor of the Banque de France between November 2003 and October 2015, as well as service at the Treasury in the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance.

ICOs Raised $160 Million in First Half of January

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) completed in the first half of January have raised around $160 million. ICOs completed by Jan. 15 have managed to raise about 33 percent of the combined amount raised in the previous month of December. Half of that sum was secured by just one project. According to ICObench, the number of fundraisers that are set to take place in January is more than 150, a figure similar to the past seven months, excluding December. In January, the combined hard cap, the maximum amount of money that a project can secure from investors during an ICO — amounts to more than $4 billion. As per the report, three fundraisers out of the five largest this month have reached or almost reached their hard caps. ICObench also reported that the number of ICO listings has continued to decline in January, suggesting that the phenomenon is losing its popularity. In terms of amount of funds raised, Canada has been leading during the first half of the month, with a combined figure of $80 million. However, when it comes to the actual number of projects, the Netherlands ranked first.

Ethereum Team Lead: Constantinople Hard Fork to Activate in Late February

Core developers of Ethereum (ETH) have postponed the activation of the Constantinople hard fork until late February. The upgrade is now set to be implemented at ETH block 7,280,000, as announced by a team lead at Ethereum. Szilagyi explains that the activation will take place at block number 7,280.000, which is expected to be mined on Feb. 27, 2019. The upgrade will reportedly be implemented as “a single fork on mainnet and a post-Constantinople-fixup fork on the testnets to get them back in line feature wise with the main network.” The vulnerability allows a potential attacker to steal cryptocurrency from a smart contract on the network by repeatedly requesting funds from it while feeding it false data about the malicious actor’s actual ETH balance. In order to patch the loophole, the launch of the upgrade had been postponed until further notice. The upcoming Constantinople hard fork is an upgrade to the ETH network, which encloses separate Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) in order to soften the transition from the current proof-of-work (PoW) to the more energy efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 Min Market Summary: 18 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Fri, Jan 18, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.05%, $109.14
EURUSD, -0.07%, $1.1393
GBPUSD, +0.78%, $1.2983
USDCAD, +0.20%, $1.3282
AUDUSD, +0.30%, $0.7189
NZDUSD, -0.19%, $0.6763

S&P500, +0.76%, 2,635.96.
Nasdaq, +0.71%, 7,084.46.
Nikkei Futures, +0.15%, 20,460.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • Initial claims for the week ending January 12 decreased by 3,000 to 213,000 (consensus 219,000) while continuing claims for the week ending January 5 increased by 18,000 to 1.737 million. The key takeaway from the report is that the low level of initial claims continues to reflect a solid labor market.
  • The Philadelphia Fed Index for January jumped to 17.0 (consensus 9.7) from 9.4, paced by an eight-point pop in the new orders index to 21.3 that was the highest reading in six months.
  • U.S. Treasuries edged lower, pushing the 2-yr yield and 10-yr yield higher by two basis points each to 2.56% and 2.75%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index was flat at 96.06. WTI crude lost -0.6% to $51.99/bbl.

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 0.76% on Thursday, boosted by a Wall Street Journal report indicating the U.S. is considering lifting some, or all, of the tariffs on Chinese imports while trade negotiations continue. It was a relatively muted session prior to the release of the report, which was published around 2:40 p.m. ET. According to the article, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested lifting tariffs with the aim of advancing talks and winning China’s support for longer-term reforms. The report, however, also mentioned that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had pushed back, arguing that any concession could be seen as a sign of weakness.
  • The market retraced a good portion of the knee-jerk gains on a follow-up report that said a Treasury spokesperson informed CNBC by email that no recommendations have been made on the tariffs. Despite the contradictory reports, this was viewed as an interesting development because it gave market participants (and Trump) a quick glimpse at the type of reaction that would presumably ensue on news of an actual trade deal. To that end, the S&P 500 jumped nearly 0.76% in a span of about ten minutes on just a suggestion that a proposal was made to lift tariffs temporarily.
  • In earnings news, Morgan Stanley (MS 42.53, -1.96) reported top and bottom line results that were below consensus estimates for the fourth quarter. The stock fell -4.4% on the disappointing results, but it was not enough to bring down the red-hot financial sector (+0.5%), which is now up 7.2% this month. Netflix beats on subscriber growth, but misses slightly on revenue, stock fell after hours (-3.74%). The company is guiding toward lower-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2019. Netflix expects earnings per share of 56 cents on revenue of $4.49 billion, compared with Wall Street consensus estimates of 82 cents and $4.61 billion. Netflix previously warned content costs are more heavily weighted in the second half of the year. Newly appointed Chief Financial Officer Spence Neumann said during the company’s earnings interview that a move towards owned content has “put pressure on the cash flows of the business and the cash needs of the business over the past few years,” but that the company is confident in its investment.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS 
WWF Launches Blockchain Tool to Track Food Along Supply Chain
World Wildlife Fund-Australia (WWF-Australia) has announced the launch of a supply chain tool that uses blockchain to allow businesses and consumers to track food items. The platform, dubbed OpenSC, is the product of a partnership between WWF-Australia and BCG Digital Ventures (BCGDV) — the global corporate venture, investment and incubation arm of United States-based Boston Consulting Group. The system allows both businesses to track products they produce, and consumers to view the origins of said products via a “unique blockchain code at the product’s point of origin.” The platform distributes QR codes to products made by client corporations signing up to the scheme. The codes are then linked to a blockchain platform to allow consumers to check the origin and life cycle of the specific product. The aim is to empower consumers with the knowledge of exactly what they are buying so they can purposely make an ethical choice.
South Africa’s Central Bank Proposes Rules for Crypto Companies
Crypto exchanges and wallet providers would have to register with regulators under rules proposed by South Africa’s central bank. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said that regulatory action on crypto assets needs to be prioritized to protect consumers and investors, stating that consumers “are left vulnerable as sellers of crypto assets are not regulated.” The bank suggests that a “useful starting point” for regulating the space would be the introduction of a registration scheme for crypto asset service providers such as exchanges and wallet providers. It would follow that with a review of existing rules and how they can be applied to crypto assets, with possible amendments or new rules to follow, and finally a review of the regulatory actions implemented at that point. The central bank also recommended that crypto assets should remain without legal tender status and should not be recognized as electronic money in its proposal. A detailed process for registration is expected to be issued and implemented by the first quarter of 2019.
Huobi Resumes Trading in Japan as FSA-Licensed Exchange
Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi — currently the world’s 7th largest by daily traded volume — has relaunched as a fully licensed platform in Japan after merging with BitTrade. Huobi Global’s wholly owned subsidiary, Huobi Japan Holding Ltd, acquired a majority stake in BitTrade last September. Leon Li, Huobi Group Founder and CEO, has said that securing the license represents a significant milestone for Huobi, given the importance of the Japanese market. Huobi Japan supports trading of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Monacoin (MONA). While a license has been mandatory for all crypto exchanges operating within Japan since the amendment of the country’s Payment Services Act back in April 2017, the FSA has continued to ratchet up requirements for applicants throughout 2018, in the wake of last January’s industry-record-breaking $532 million theft of NEM tokens from Coincheck. Huobi Group has been headquartered in Singapore since Beijing’s crackdown on domestic crypto-fiat exchanges in September 2017. As part of its ongoing overseas expansion efforts, the platform has recently rebranded its United States-based strategic partner trading platform HBUS to the better known Huobi name.
Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 min Market Summary: 17 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading

NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Thu, Jan 17, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.35%, $109.04
EURUSD, -0.16%, $1.1399
GBPUSD, +0.21%, $1.2887
USDCAD, -0.06%, $1.3257
AUDUSD, -0.42%, $0.7171
NZDUSD, -0.64%, $0.6773

S&P500, +0.22%, 2,616.10.
Nasdaq, +0.15%, 7,034.69.
Nikkei Futures, +0.01%, 20,512.5

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • Import prices declined 1.0% month-over-month (expected -1.3%) and were down 0.6% year-over-year. Excluding fuel, they were unchanged in December and up just 0.5% year-over-year. Export prices declined 0.6% and were up 1.1% year-over-year. Excluding agricultural products, they were down 1.1% in December and up 1.0% year-over-year. The key takeaway from the report is that it didn’t ring any inflation alarm bells that would compel the Fed to be less patient with its monetary policy approach.
  • The Federal Reserve’s January Beige Book noted that eight out of twelve districts reported modest to moderate growth, but contacts had become less optimistic about their expectations due to increased volatility in financial markets, rising short-term rates, falling energy prices, and trade/political uncertainty.
  • U.S. Treasuries ended on Wednesday on a lower note, pushing the 2-yr yield and 10-yr yield up two basis points each to 2.54% and 2.73%, respectively. The U.S. Dollar Index was flat at 96.08. WTI crude reversed course to finish higher by 0.8% at $52.33/bbl.
  • Prime Minister May’s Brexit deal suffered a big defeat yesterday in Parliament. She lost by 230 votes, which was her worst case scenario. Instead of falling, Sterling surged on the decision and is trading above 1.28. As BoE Governor Carney pointed out, the rebound in the currency reflects expectations that Article 50 will be extended and the prospect of no deal diminished. No one wants a disorderly no deal Brexit and the next step for May will be to lay out Plan B by January 21st. U.K. CPI y/y  2.1% as expected 2.1%. PPI Input m/m  -1.0% vs expected -1.5%.

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 0.22% on Wednesday, as strong earnings from Bank of America (BAC 28.45, +1.90, +7.2%) and Goldman Sachs (GS 197.08, +17.17, +9.5%) helped keep the rally going. The benchmark index was up as much as 0.6%, but succumbed to selling pressure into the close. The S&P 500 financial sector carried the load on Wednesday with a sizable gain of 2.2%. Conversely, the consumer staples (-0.5%) and communication services (-0.4%) sectors underperformed the broader market. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs climbed 7.2% and 9.5%, respectively, after both exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter. United Continental (UAL 86.36, +5.16, +6.4%) also reported better-than-expected top and bottom lines. Its strong report, and a reassuring outlook, helped lift the Dow Jones Transportation Average (+0.5%) and airline stocks as a whole. The market has had its fair share of earnings warnings during this rally and Wednesday was no exception. Still, the stock market seemed unaffected by a fourth quarter earnings warning from Ford Motor (F 8.29, -0.55, -6.2%) and retailer Nordstrom (JWN 45.01, -2.25, -4.8%) saying its full-year earnings are expected to be at the low end of its previous outlook due to weaker-than-expected holiday sales. UK Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote a day after her Brexit plan was soundly defeated. Her ability to survive the no-confidence vote was widely expected and, like Tuesday, the outcome was a non-factor for U.S. markets.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS 

Swiss Crypto Industry Leader Says Next Crypto Wave Will Be Stablecoins, Security Tokens

Bitcoin Association Switzerland board member Luzius Meisser says he believes the next wave of crypto innovation will focus on stablecoins and security tokens. In regard to the medium-term future of crypto, Meisser said he expects the initial coin offering (ICOs) sector to undergo a significant change, noting that until now ICO investors have had negligible rights, as they have essentially been little more than donors. With demands that their protections become more tangible, Meisser predicted that security tokens can be expected to account for the next, much more heavily regulated wave of the ICO market. Meisser’s exception was certain stablecoins, whose decentralized mechanisms ensure they are legally considered to be payment or utility tokens rather than securities. He isolated stablecoins more broadly, whether they are securities or otherwise, as an important future pillar of the blockchain industry. In other remarks, Meisser noted that Swiss banks remain very risk averse and thus try not to touch crypto, and outlined several mechanisms local enterprises and startups can use to circumvent banking difficulties in the country.

BitMEX Research: ICO Tokens Allocated by Teams to Themselves Lost 54% of $24 Bln Value

The value of tokens that over a hundred of initial coin offering (ICO) teams have allocated to themselves has decreased by 54 percent from the initial figure of $24 billion. BitMEX has conducted a research of the ICO market in collaboration with analytics firm TokenAnalyst, looking into treasury balances of more than a hundred projects on the Ethereum (ETH) network. The analysis reportedly made use of machine learning techniques and was based on the interpretation of smart contract data and transaction patterns on the Ethereum blockchain. The combined value of all the tokens that the analyzed projects have allocated to their own teams, has gone down from $24.2 billion at the time of each individual token’s issuance to about $5 billion as of today. The conclusion drawn by BitMEX and TokenAnalysits from their research is that the ICO market suffers from a lack of standards and transparency, especially in regards to allocating tokens to the founding teams. BitMEX noted that the analysis could be further complicated by the ability of ICO teams to mint, burn, buy, and sell their own tokens.

ConsenSys Joins News Industry Leaders to Invest in New WordPress Publishing Platform

Blockchain tech firm ConsenSys has joined news industry leaders to contribute to the creation of a new revenue-generating news platform by WordPress. ConsenSys has invested $350,000 in the new WordPress project called Newspack, an open-source publishing platform for news companies. Apart from investing in the new proof-of-concept (PoC) initiative by WordPress, which is the world’s most popular website management system, ConsenSys will also provide the new publishing platform with a blockchain-powered native plugin for Civil. Backed by ConsenSys, Civil will allow any interested newsroom to join its community-owned journalism network and archive their content on decentralized storage systems. Civil Media is a ConsenSys-backed firm that claims to deploy cryptocurrency to save journalism. In October 2018, the company raised $1.4 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) out of a targeted $8 million. However, the since the goal was not met, Civil refunded the money but announced plans to launch in February 2019 despite the failure to meet the target.

Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 min Market Summary: 16 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading
NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Wed, Jan 16, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.47%, $108.68
EURUSD, -0.57%, $1.1411
GBPUSD, +0.05%, $1.2866
USDCAD, -0.19%, $1.3261
AUDUSD, +0.06%, $0.7200
NZDUSD, -0.12%, $0.6815

S&P500, +1.07%, 2,610.30.
Nasdaq, +1.71%, 7,023.83
Nikkei Futures, +1.76%, 20,542.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • The Producer Price Index for final demand declined -0.2% (consensus -0.1%) while the index for final demand, less food and energy, declined -0.1% (consensus +0.2%). The monthly changes left the index for final demand up 2.5% year-over-year, unchanged from November, and the index for final demand, less food and energy, up 2.7%, also unchanged from November. The key takeaway from this report is that producer price inflation is moderating, which will suggest in the market’s mind that consumer price inflation is going to as well.
  • The bond market was quiet despite the gains in the stock market. The 2-yr yield and 10-yr yield were unchanged at 2.52% and 2.71%. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.3% to 95.92. WTI crude rose 2.6% to $51.92/bbl.
  • In Brexit, MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal – the heaviest defeat for a sitting government in history. A defeat has been broadly anticipated in markets since the agreement with the EU was closed in November 2018 and caused several members of the government to resign. The UK is still on course to leave on 29 March but the defeat throws the manner of that departure and the timing of it into further doubt. The probability of a no deal has diminished while the chances of a delay in Article 50, a second referendum or even, at the margin, no Brexit at all, have all increased. The consequence of those scenarios has encouraged Sterling to remain bid despite the PM suffering the worst parliamentary result in a century.

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 gained 1.07% on Tuesday, as a shift to high-growth stocks helped the market rally past several earnings disappointments. The ability of the market to rally on bad news fed into a belief that the bad news was priced in already during the December rout, which in turn fuelled hope that bargain-hunting efforts will keep the 2019 rally going.
  • Weaker-than-expected (but not weak) earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase (JPM 101.68, +0.74, +0.7%) and Wells Fargo (WFC 47.67, -0.75, -1.6%) provided an early justification to sell the banks. JPMorgan missed both top and bottom line estimates, but net income increased 67%, earnings per share increased 85%, and net revenue growth increased 4%. Wells Fargo for its part missed top line estimates but beat earnings estimates. Dow component UnitedHealth (UNH 256.87, +8.81, +3.6%) outperformed after it beat earnings estimates and helped drive the leadership of the health care sector. The preference for high-growth tech stocks kept the broader market afloat despite the earnings disappointments. The outperformance of the growth stocks on Tuesday could be rationalized in part as an effort to invest in companies with stronger growth prospects amid a slowing growth environment. Netflix (NFLX 354.64, +21.70, +6.5%), for instance, remained in growth mode with reports indicating it will raise its U.S. subscription prices to finance its original content and heavy debt load.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS 
Canadian Platform to Become the Major Global Crypto Exchange by Expanding to 100 Countries
Canadian-based CoinField plans to make crypto trading more accessible and cheaper for investors  irrespective of where they live so they can take advantage of when crypto prices go green. The exchange intends to become one of the largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. It is already available in 101 countries and the team plans to expand the service to more regions in 2019, including the United States. The trading platform says it offers real-time order books, trade history, charting tools, advanced limit and stop orders, and a user-friendly order process so that a user “can trade like a pro from day one.” Its engine is capable of conducting “75,000 trades per second, or up to 1.5 million API calls per second”. CoinField uses a “one of a kind secret vault that’s been built from scratch to store sensitive information on the system.” It currently offers deposit and withdrawal options for six different popular fiat currencies and 60 trading pairs for crypto. The platform has recently added four new digital assets.
European Blockchain Startup Launches Trading in Tokenized Securities
Belarus-based blockchain startup Currency.com has launched a trading platform for tokenized securities. The platform will initially host over 150 tokenized securities, tracking the underlying market price of financial instruments such as equity and commodities, it said, while over 10,000 similar offerings could be available in the future. The service lets investors buy a token that would reflect the performance of, say, an Apple share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, at the “same economic costs and benefits of an Apple share.” The mobile trading apps of the platform, both iOS and Android, are expected to be available as beta versions from February. The platform would allow investors to directly trade and invest in financial instruments using the cryptocurrencies bitcoin or ethereum, without first converting to fiat.
Huobi Exchange Hires Compliance Chief From Global Bank State Street
Huobi, the third largest cryptocurrency exchange by monthly trading volume, has hired a senior professional from a major U.S.-based global bank. As regulators in different countries are paying ever-closer attention at crypto, Huobi hopes to benefit from Sun’s expertise in working with government bodies around the world. CryptoRecruit has noticed a huge increase in the number of people from traditional banks who are extremely receptive when we approach them for potential job opportunities in crypto. Developers have been moving over from tech firms since last year but to see bankers making the move is reassuring as to where the future of this industry is headed.
Cryptocurrency, Earnings, Market Summary

2 min Market Summary: 15 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading
NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Tue, Jan 15, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, -0.20%, $108.24
EURUSD, +0.11%, $1.1473
GBPUSD, +0.21%, $1.2875
USDCAD, -0.04%, $1.3275
AUDUSD, -0.02%, $0.7200
NZDUSD, -0.10%, $0.6826

S&P500, -0.53%, 2,582.61.
Nasdaq, -0.94%, 6,905.92
Nikkei Futures, +0.20%, 20,187.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • U.S. Treasuries finished mixed with the 2-yr yield decreasing three basis points to 2.52% and the 10-yr yield adding one basis point to 2.71% in a curve-steepening trade. The U.S. Dollar Index lost -0.1% to 95.59. WTI crude lost -2.1% to $50.58/bbl.
  • For the next 48 hours, there’s nothing more important than the Brexit vote. Members of Parliament will begin voting on PM May’s withdrawal agreement at 7pm London time on Tuesday. There is no specific time for the vote to end, but it should happen in the late North American or early Asian session. At this point, May is expected to lose by a margin big enough to force her to seek an Article 50 extension. 

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The broader market opened on a lower note, as disappointing trade data out of China stirred ongoing concerns over global economic growth. Specifically, China’s exports unexpectedly declined 4.4% year-over-year in December and its imports declined 7.6%. The S&P 500 lost -0.53% on Monday, pulling back from a three-week winning streak. The benchmark index never traded in positive territory but it did cut its intraday losses in half. The S&P 500 utilities (-2.3%), health care (-1.2%), and information technology (-0.9%) sectors weighed on the broader market. Conversely, the financials (+0.7%) sector helped offset losses and it was the only sector to finish in positive territory.
  • In addition, the amount of attention surrounding the partial U.S. government shutdown, which is currently the longest in U.S. history with no clear end in sight, also weighed on investor sentiment. The S&P 500 managed to bounce off its early lows as Citigroup (C 58.93, +2.24, +4.0%) overcame early weakness that was initially attributed to some disappointment over a fourth quarter revenue shortfall that overshadowed better-than-expected earnings results driven in part by expense savings and a lower tax rate. Citigroup was down more than -1.0% in pre-market hours but quickly reversed course shortly after the start of the trading session. Its quick turnaround, which several pundits attributed to a discounted valuation, helped lift other bank stocks and the financial space.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
 
Major Spanish Energy Company to Use Blockchain in Renewable Energy Tracking
Spain’s major energy company, Iberdrola, has started using blockchain to track renewable energy. The first trial was conducted in cooperation with Kutxabank, a local bank based in the Basque Autonomous Community that owns a substantial part of Iberdrola’s equity, and its subsidiary Cajasur. The company used Energy Web Foundation — an open source blockchain platform designed to fit the regulatory, operational and market needs of the energy sector—  in their pilot. They found that blockchain enabled the company to establish a hierarchy of the producers and to automate the process of energy distribution. The test was a success, and Iberdrola believes that blockchain will contribute to the process of issuing guarantee of origin — a certificate that informs a customer about the source of the energy consumed. Moreover, decentralized solutions can help the industry to increase transparency and cut operational costs by eliminating middlemen.
 
Bulgarian Revenue Agency Announces Inspection of Cryptocurrency-Selling Companies
The Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) has announced the launch of inspections of cryptocurrency-selling companies. The Bulgarian RSA reportedly conducted a survey of the companies that own online platforms for the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies like cryptocurrency exchanges and already assigned control actions (which presumably means checks) to nine companies. After the completion of the checks, the tax authority will reportedly use the information obtained from the platform to determine whether the users have declared their income from the use of cryptocurrency exchanges. In Bulgaria, the income from the sale of virtual currencies is declared in annual tax returns, treated as profit from the sale of a financial asset, and taxed at 10 percent. Companies profiting from the sale of crypto-assets are subject to taxation under the Corporate Income Tax Act.
 
Malaysian Cryptocurrency Regulation to Classify Digital Assets, Tokens as Securities
The Malaysian finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, reportedly said today that the Capital Markets and Services Order 2019 would become effective on Jan. 15.  The new regulation classifies digital currencies, tokens and crypto-assets as securities, placing them under the Securities Commission’s authority. Starting from Tuesday, any person operating unauthorized initial coin offerings (ICOs) or digital asset exchanges in Malaysia will be reportedly facing a 10-year jail sentence and a 10 million ($2.4 million) ringgit fine. Eng noted that the ministry believes digital assets offer both an alternative fundraising method and a new asset class for investors. The Malaysian government was still undecided whether to legalize cryptocurrencies just two days ago. Still, it has reportedly been clear since November of last year that Malaysia will enact regulations for cryptocurrency and ICOs in Q1 2019.
Cryptocurrency, Market Summary

2 min Market Summary: 14 Jan 2019

Posted on by TrackRecord Trading
NOTABLE MOVES 

As of Sat, Jan 12, 08:00 Singapore Time zone UTC+8

USDJPY, +0.12%, $108.55
EURUSD, -0.27%, $1.1469
GBPUSD, +0.74%, $1.2843
USDCAD, +0.23%, $1.3266
AUDUSD, +0.42%, $0.7216
NZDUSD, +0,78%, $0.6833

S&P500, -0.01%, 2,596.26.
Nasdaq, -0.21%, 6,971.48
Nikkei Futures, +1.04%, 20,320.0

CURRENCY MARKET WRAP 

  • U.S. CPI m/m at -0.1% vs expected -0.1%. Core CPI m/m at 0.2% vs expected 0.2%. The key takeaway from the report is that it supports the Fed’s new belief that it can be patient with its policy approach given that the core inflation trend is stable around the longer-run target at a time when data locally and abroad is revealing some softening in economic activity. U.S. Treasuries closed out the week on a higher note, pushing the 2-yr yield down two basis points to 2.55% and the 10-yr yield down three basis points to 2.70% in the wake of a market-friendly consumer inflation report. The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.10% to 95.67.
  • Sterling was one of the best performers. It received a lift on reports that the UK could delay its March 29th exit from the European Union, though there’s a very good chance that PM May will lose this week’s key Brexit vote. Most MPs are expected to vote no to the withdrawal agreement that she set out with EU and only reason this is seen as good news is because many believe that they will need to drop the deadline altogether if Parliament rejects the agreement. As for Plan B, May could push for a second vote, pro-EU campaigners could push hard for a second referendum or the UK could begin the process of leaving the EU with no agreement.

 STOCK MARKET WRAP 

  • The S&P 500 (-0.01%) finished just a hair below its flat line on Friday. The benchmark index never traded in positive territory but did close at its session high. It also finished the week with a gain of 2.5%. The S&P 500 sectors also finished mixed with energy (-0.6%), utilities (-0.4%), and materials (-0.4%) weighing on the broader market. Conversely, the consumer staples (+0.3%) and health care (+0.3%) sectors finished atop the standings. General Motors (GM 37.18, +2.45) for its part jumped 7.1% after it increased its adjusted fiscal 2018 and 2019 earnings above consensus. Its strength, however, was not enough to lift the consumer discretionary space (unch).
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS 
Overstock’s Security Token Trading Platform to Give Investors Control Over Token-Holdings
Reportedly, tZERO, the security token exchange subsidiary of e-commerce retail giant Overstock,  has started releasing control of its tokens. According to tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi’s letter, investors now have the option of choosing where to hold their security tokens, either by creating a brokerage account with Dinosaur Financial Group, a tZERO partner and broker dealer, or holding them in a person wallet with a two-step verification system. tZERO investors should also “look out for another tZERO update regarding the commencement of security token trading,” as the time-frame for the live trading of the security token on its platform has not yet been clarified. In early January of this year, tZero received a patent application for a crypto integration platform for trading digital assets, outlining a system that would be able to receive orders to trade securities, tokens, digital shares, cash equivalents and digital assets from broker-dealers and then translate the orders into crypto orders on a digital exchange.
Central Bank Veteran’s Blockchain ‘E-Money’ Startup Raises $2 Million
Ethereum development studio ConsenSys has participated in a $2 million seed funding round for Iceland-based blockchain startup Monerium. The round was led by early-stage venture capital firm Crowberry Capital and included participation from private investment firm Hof Holdings, both also based in Iceland. The round was led by early-stage venture capital firm Crowberry Capital and included participation from private investment firm Hof Holdings, both also based in Iceland. Monerium plans to issue “asset-backed, redeemable and regulated e-money” over blockchains once a licensed institution, saying its products would make blockchains “more relevant and useful” to financial institutions and enterprises. According to Andrew Keys, co-founder of ConsenSys Capital, his firm is “dedicated to supporting companies building the infrastructure needed for a more decentralized and self-sovereign future.” In November, ConsenSys led a $2.1 million seed round for AZTEC, a startup working to make ethereum transactions private and thereby encourage financial institutions to use the second-largest blockchain.
NASA Eyes Blockchain Tech to Secure Aircraft Flight Data
NASA – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – is examining blockchain technology as a means to ensure the privacy and security of aircraft flight data. Ronald Reisman, an aero-computer engineer at NASA Ames Research Center, published a paper on Monday, suggesting that blockchain networks and smart contracts can help mitigate some security issues. Starting Jan. 1, 2020, the U.S. has been mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use a new surveillance system – Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) – which will publicly broadcast aircrafts’ identity, position and other information.