2 Min Market Summary: 26 Feb 2019

• In U.S.-China Trade Deal, speculation has now shifted from an extension to a conclusion of the trade war. Memorandums of understanding are being drafted in 6 key areas that include cyber theft, intellectual property, currency and non-tariff barriers.
• Assuming that both sides continue to make progress, Trump says they will be planning for a Summit at Mar-a-Lago to conclude an agreement.
• U.S. Treasuries closed on a lower note, pushing yields higher across the curve. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 2.51%, and the 10-yr yield increased two basis points to 2.67%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined -0.1% to 96.42. WTI crude lost -3.1% to $55.45/bbl.
• Sterling extended its gains after Prime Minister May delayed the “meaningful vote” to March 12, two weeks before they are scheduled to leave the European Union. Investors believe that by running down the clock, May leaves Parliament with no choice but to take over the Brexit process. She’ll have to request for an extension of Article 50 or risk being shut out of negotiations. 
• Canadian dollar was the only major currency that failed to benefit from the bid in risk appetite. Crude tumbled more than -3% after a tweet from Trump that simply said “Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike – fragile!”

• S&P 500 advanced as much as 0.8% on Monday after Trump said he will delay the March 1 trade deadline as negotiations with China have progressed favorably. The benchmark index, however, steadily retreated throughout the session, ultimately finishing higher by 0.12%.
• Trump followed up with a tweet during late trading action that U.S.-China talks are in advanced stages, but he did not provide a new deadline or any further details. Still, growing expectations for a trade deal underpinned the leadership from the S&P 500 cyclical sectors. Shares of semiconductor companies, many of which have revenue exposure to China, also outperformed and helped lift the heavily-weighted tech sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index increased 0.8%.
• General Electric (GE 10.82, +0.65, +6.4%) gave the industrial sector a boost after it agreed to sell its biopharma business to Danaher (DHR 123.15, +9.67, +8.5%) for $21.4 billion, which includes $21 billion in cash. General Electric had surged 15.5% in the opening minutes of trading but, like the broader market, finished near its session low.

BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

Coinbase Pro Adds Support for XRP
Coinbase Pro, the professional offering of United States-based crypto trading platform and wallet service Coinbase, is adding support for Ripple’s XRP token. Per the announcement Coinbase Pro will now accept deposits of XRP for a minimum of 12 hours before enabling full trading. Coinbase notes that it will first establish sufficient liquidity on the platform, opening trading pairs in U.S. dollars, euro and Bitcoin (BTC) in phases. Full trading of XRP will be available to customers in the U.S., Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. Coinbase may expand its services to other countries at a later time. XRP trading will go through four stages, which include “transfer-only,” “post-only,” “limit-only,” and “full trading. The first two stages will enable users to transfer XRP to Coinbase Pro accounts and post limit orders, the subsequent two will allow customers to match limit orders and fully trade with XRP. The addition of XRP to Coinbase has been long-awaited by the crypto community.

Bitfinex’s Stolen Funds Partially Recovered and Returned by US Law Enforcement
The United States’ law enforcement recovered and returned over $104,000 stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The funds returned are reportedly just under 27.7 Bitcoins (BTC), which were stolen in August 2016 in a hack that involved the theft of around 120,000 BTC in total. Bitfinex reportedly generalized the losses across all accounts and credited BFX tokens, one per every dollar lost, to those affected by the hack. These tokens could be redeemed for one dollar each or exchanged for the company’s stocks. The holders who chose to convert into stocks also received Recovery Right Token (RRT) tokens, while all BFX tokens were then destroyed. Since some of the stolen coins have been received, Bitfinex notes that they are now reportedly being converted to U.S. dollars and paid to RTT holders.

Accenture Works With Mastercard, Amazon to Boost Circular Supply Chain Using DLT
Global professional services firm Accenture is working with major global firms including Mastercard to introduce a blockchain-based circular supply chain. An active user of blockchain and digital ledger technology, Accenture now intends to employ the tech as a key component to boost the circular supply chain. The term circular supply chain encompasses all stages on the supply chain, from the beginning to the end, in order to eliminate waste and improve sustainability for the environment. Within the announced initiative, Accenture is collaborating with major global companies including cloud computing firm Amazon Web Services, blockchain supply chain firm Everledger, international development organization Mercy Corps and multinational financial services corporation Mastercard. According to the release, the new blockchain-enabled circular supply chain capability will allow customers to identify small-scale suppliers and growers on the supply chain and make rewards by using direct payments. Additionally, the new capability is designed to provide better management of inventory and waste elimination, transparency across the supply chain and authenticity of products.