The U.S. now leads the world in Bitcoin mining, according to data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), which tracks Bitcoin’s energy consumption by geography. According to data added to the index, the United States currently makes up 42.7% of the Bitcoin network’s “hashrate,” a metric unit that measures how much power the Bitcoin network consumes. Up 14%, the growth in America’s hashrate — also known as hashpower — reflects the changing geopolitical… Source link
Read More »That 70’s show? Oil dredges up new fears about an old problem: Morning Brief
This article first appeared in the Morning Brief. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe Thursday, September 30, 2021 Once again, Wall Street is worried about slowing growth and relentless inflation. In the wake of this week’s run up in oil, which coincided with energy crunches in China and the U.K., a certain word associated with slowing growth and higher inflation — popularized during a particularly rough stretch nearly 50 years… Source link
Read More »European stock markets push higher as Evergrande fears ease
The real estate company said a payment due on Thursday, for an onshore renminbi-denominated bond, had ‘already been resolved through off-exchange negotiations’. Photo: Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images European stock markets were sharply higher on Wednesday as worries over the Evergrande crisis in China started to ease. The real estate company said a payment due on Thursday, for an onshore renminbi-denominated bond, had “already been resolved through off-exchange negotiations”. Traders… Source link
Read More »Wall St. sinks amid China’s Evergrande contagion fears, US debt politics
Stocks plunged on Monday, with major indices tumbling by over 1% at the opening bell, as investors nervously eyed the potential ripple effects of the default of a major Chinese real estate company, as well as ongoing debates over the debt limit in Washington. After defying gravity for most of the summer, September is shaping up to be a tough month for markets, with major benchmarks in retreat for three consecutive weeks. At Wall Street’s opening bell, the Dow sank by more than 500 points,… Source link
Read More »Tencent Leads $60 Billion Loss as Game Crackdown Fears Grow
(Bloomberg) — Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Netease Inc. shed more than $60 billion of value as investor fears grow that Chinese regulators are preparing to tighten their grip dramatically on the world’s largest gaming industry. Chinese regulators summoned industry executives to a Wednesday meeting to instruct them to break their “solitary focus” on profit and prevent minors from becoming addicted to games, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Regulators also said there will be a… Source link
Read More »COVID Delta fears unleash short sellers on these stock market sectors
COVID-19 Delta fears has unleashed the short sellers on the economically sensitive consumer discretionary sector. Short sellers held 4.57% of outstanding shares in the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector at the end of July, according to new data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Taking a short position in a stock is one’s way of betting on a decline in price. The percentage of short sellers in the consumer discretionary space has trended higher since April as stimulus check spending… Source link
Read More »COVID-19 Delta variant fears aren’t stopping retailers from giving away money, again
There may be a budding consumer spending slowdown underway at the hands of COVID-19 Delta variant fears, but that isn’t stopping some household name retailers from reinstating the dividends and buyback plans they scrapped at the height of the pandemic. For some analysts on the Street, the moves make total sense. “I wouldn’t say that anyone [retailer] returning cash is all of a sudden better off than they were before, but I think they are realizing that they did a good job. They put as much… Source link
Read More »World markets head lower as Federal Reserve taper fears realised
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s meeting notes showed that officials agreed on slowing the pace of bond purchases later this year. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images European markets declined on Thursday morning in London, pulling back after anxiety shook Wall Street about the potential tapering of bond purchases. The FTSE (^FTSE) was down 2.1% by 9.40am, Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was down 1.7% and the CAC (^FCHI) was almost 2.8% lower. Over the… Source link
Read More »China’s Port Shutdown Raises Fears of Closures Worldwide
(Bloomberg) — A Covid outbreak that has partially shut one of the world’s busiest container ports is heightening concerns that the rapid spread of the delta variant will lead to a repeat of last year’s shipping nightmares. The Port of Los Angeles, which saw its volumes dip because of a June Covid outbreak at the Yantian port in China, is bracing for another potential decline because of the latest shutdown at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in China, a spokesman said. Anton Posner, chief… Source link
Read More »Delta variant fears are beginning to slow spending in key areas
Increased public focus on the Delta variant has coincided with slowed spending in key sectors, according to a JPMorgan (JPM) Research report by senior economist Jesse Edgerton and economist Peter McCrory. “COVID case counts are still growing rapidly, even in highly-vaccinated states,” the report reads. “Google (GOOG, GOOGL) search data suggest that public focus on the Delta variant has intensified in recent weeks, and Chase card spending in some travel and entertainment categories has… Source link
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