NOTABLE MOVES
As of Thu, Dec 20, 08:00 GMT (UTC +08:00)
USDJPY, -1.16%, $111.18.
EURUSD, +0.69%, $1.1456.
GBPUSD, +0.47%, $1.2669 .
AUDUSD, -0.97%, $0.7113.
S&P500, -1.58%, 2,467.42
Nasdaq, -1.63%, 6,528.41
Nikkei Futures, -3.25%, 20,240.0
CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
- Dollar was offered on Thursday, with Safe-Haven assets staying bid in the face of continued risk-aversion. U.S. Treasuries closed on a lower note, pushing the 2-yr yield up three basis points to 2.67% and the 10-yr yield up one basis point to 2.79%. The U.S. Dollar Index fell -0.7% to 96.36, while gold futures settled 0.9% higher to $1267.00/oz, reaching its highest level since June.
- The BoJ kept its ‘QQE with yields curve control’ policy unchanged this morning. The board voted 7-2 in favour of maintaining its policy. This was widely expected. The central bank maintained a promise to keep both long and short-term rates extremely low for an extended period of time to ensure that the economy can deal with a major tax increase scheduled for October next year.
- The BOE’s rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to leave the cost of borrowing unchanged at 0.75%, as it warned that consumer demand and business investment was likely to have suffered amid the political impasse over Theresa May’s plan to leave the EU. Against that backdrop, the MPC said that UK growth would probably slow to 0.2% in the final quarter of the year, below its previous expectations. It added that the slower rate of growth would probably persist into the first quarter of 2019. Despite the gathering problems for the British economy, the central bank said it still believed higher interest rates would be required over the coming years to keep a lid on inflation, although only in the event of a smooth Brexit.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
- The S&P 500 staged a late recovery try to cut its losses from -2.6% to -0.8%, but that recovery effort was once again met with selling resistance that drove the market further into oversold territory. Some nettlesome elements that weighed on investor sentiment Thursday included (1) the possibility of a partial government shutdown, (2) a reminder that the dispute between the U.S. and China goes much deeper than just tariffs on goods, and (3) the understanding that credit markets appear to be anticipating a growth slowdown due to tighter monetary policy.Furthermore, weakness in oil ($44.95, -$2.33, -4.8%) and copper ($2.70, -$0.01, -0.4%) prices, and the underperformance by the cyclical sectors, fed into the market’s concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
Cryptocurrency businesses find it “almost impossible” to get insurance and this is deterring investors, Big Four auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said. In comments focusing on the global fintech market, Henri Arslanian — the firm’s fintech highlighted the contradictory status quo industry businesses face trying to attract funding. “Most institutionally-minded crypto firms want to buy proper insurance, and in many cases, getting adequate insurance coverage is a regulatory or legal requirement.” Mining giant Bitmain — whose reported plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong were revealed in June — has faced multiple reports of misgivings on the part of both local regulators and prospective host, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). At the same time, those involved in funding crypto businesses, such as cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, maintain that the entry of institutional investors is both guaranteed and a major step to legitimizing the market.
McAfee: Crypto-Mining Malware Grew By Over 4,000 Percent in 2018
According to research from McAfee, Instances of crypto-mining malware increased more than 4,000 percent this year. In its December 2018 report, the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm said that there were nearly four million new mining malware threats in the third quarter of 2018 alone, compared to less than 500,000 in 2017 and 2016. Another release giving specific numbers showed that the number of malicious crypto-miners grew nearly 55 percent in Q3 of 2018, with total malware growing 4,467 percent in the last four quarters. McAfee also discovered a Mac OS threat named OSX.Dummy, which is being distributed on cryptomining chat groups. The malware, posted online, suggests that users download software to fix “crypto problems,” after which it injects its malicious code. This way, users essentially infected their own devices.
Western Union Considers Crypto, Partners with Ripple to Test Blockchain Payments
The president of Western Union Global Money Transfer has claimed the company is “ready to adopt any kind of currency,” potentially including cryptocurrencies. Almeida believes that the firm’s long-term stance makes it potentially ready to launch any type of currency, including blockchain-based ones. However, Almeida thinks that in order to achieve mass adoption, cryptocurrencies have to solve problems with volatility, governance and compliance. As per the Western Union exec — hinting at the concept behind some stablecoins — the issue with volatility in crypto markets can be addressed by pegging coins to some “strong currencies, such as the [United States] dollar.” Apart from cryptocurrencies, Western Union is also exploring the use of blockchain.