Stock Market
Goldman Sachs’ bearish macro outlook puts Bitcoin at risk of crashing to $12K
A sequence of macro warnings coming out of the Goldman Sachs camp puts Bitcoin (BTC) at a risk of crashing to $12,000. Bitcoin in “bottom phase?” A team of Goldman Sachs economists led by Jan Hatzius raised their prediction for the speed of Federal Reserve benchmark rate hikes. They noted that the U.S. central bank would increase rates by 0.75% in September and 0.5% in November, up from their previous forecast of 0.5% and 0.25%, respectively. Fed’s rate-hike path has played a key role in determining Bitcoin’s price trends in 2022. The period of higher lending rates — from near zero to the 2.25-2.5% range now — has prompted investors to rotate out of riskier assets and seek shelter in safer alternatives like cash. Bitcoin has dropped by almost 60% year-to-date and is...
Why September is shaping up to be a potentially ugly month for Bitcoin price
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls should not get excited about the recovery from the June lows of $17,500 just yet as BTC heads into its riskiest month in the coming days. The psychology behind the “September effect” Historic data shows September being Bitcoin’s worst month between 2013 and 2021, except in 2015 and 2016. At the same time, the average Bitcoin price decline in the month is a modest -6%. Bitcoin monthly returns. Source: CoinGlass Interestingly, Bitcoin’s poor track record across the previous September months coincides with similar downturns in the stock market. For instance, the average decline of the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 in September is 0.7% in the last 25 years. S&P 500 performance in August and September since 1998. Source: Bloomberg Traditional chart a...
Worst quarter in 11 years as Bitcoin price and activity plunges
Bitcoin (BTC) has seen its worst quarterly loss in 11 years with price and activity on the blockchain both plunging over the last three months. The second quarter ending June 30 saw Bitcoin’s price fall from around $45,000 at the start of the quarter to trade at $19,884 before midnight ET on June 30 according to CoinGecko, representing a 56.2% loss according to crypto analytics platform Coinglass. It’s the steepest price fall since the third quarter of 2011, when BTC fell from $15.40 to $5.03, a loss of over 67% and worse than the bear markets of 2014 and 2018, when Bitcoin’s price slumped 39.7% and 49.7% in their worst quarters respectively. The past quarter saw eight weekly red candles in a row for Bitcoin and the month of June saw a draw down of over 37%, the heaviest monthly losses sin...
The Ledger: Music Companies That Didn’t Go Public Missed a Crucial Window
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. If a music company was thinking about going public last year and didn’t, it may have already missed its opportunity – at least for the foreseeable future. Since Universal Music Group went public on Sept. 21, 2021, the S&P 500 is down 5.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 18.5%. From that date to the end of 2021, the markets rose 9.4% and 6.3%, respectively, and it looked like UMG might have left money on the table. But in 2022, stock prices turned south due to a combination of factors – namely rising interest rates and high inflation – and recession fears have multiplied. With the U.S. and other major economies on ...
Ethereum eyes $3.5K as ETH price reclaims pandemic-era support with 40% rebound
Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) looks poised to hit $3,500 in the coming sessions as it reclaimed a historically strong support level on Feb. 5. Ethereum price back above key trendline ETH price rising above its 50-week exponential moving average (50-week EMA; the red wave in the chart below) means the price also inched above $3,000, a psychological support level that may serve as the ground for Ether’s next leg up. ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView The 50-week EMA was instrumental in maintaining Ether’s bullish bias across 2020 and 2021. For instance, it served as a strong accumulation zone during the market correction in the second and third quarters last year, pushing ETH price from around $1,700 to as high as $4,951 (data from Binance). As a result, ...
BTCS stock jumps 44% after announcing first-ever dividend payable in Bitcoin
On Wednesday, Nasdaq Composite logged its biggest daily loss since February last year. But for one of its listed companies, the day turned out to be extremely bullish. Blockchain stock soars The share value of BTCS Inc. (BTCS), a blockchain technology company, surged nearly 44% to $4.36 at the New York closing bell, thus becoming the third-best performer on Nasdaq after Lixte Biotechnology (LIXT) and Mainz Biomed BV (MYNZ). Top Nasdaq performers as of Jan. 5, 2022’s close. Source: TheStockMarketWatch.com In contrast, Nasdaq plunged 3.3% Wednesday, its losses driven primarily by the release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in mid-December last year. In detail, the minutes revealed the Federal Reserve officials’ intention to rais...
NGX records N419 billion growth in April
The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock (NGX) recorded a growth of N419 billion in April due to impressive first quarter results declared by some companies. Specifically, the market capitalisation which closed trading in March at N20.428tn rose by N419bn to close at N20.847tn in April. Similarly, the All-Share Index inched higher by 789.29 points to close at 39,834.42 in contrast with 39,045.13 recorded in March. Royal Exchange Assurance emerged the best performing stock for April in percentage terms, growing by 89.29 per cent to close at 58k per share against 28k recorded in March. Linkage trailed with 41.87 per cent to close at 85k in contrast with 60k posted in the comparative month. Speaking on the performance of the stock market, Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Office...
2021: Banks to walk a tightrope amid low revenue environment
Nigeria’s deposit money banks (DMBs) must brace up for the challenge of 2021 that might tax their resolve to remain in business. Reason: the industry is faced with a tougher operating environment that could threaten the operators’ ability to meet their stakeholders’ needs and expectations yet perform meaningful corporate social responsibility roles. Their valuable customers such as high net-worth individuals, corporate bodies and other institutions are equally challenged. In his book, Business Stripped Bare, celebrated iconic entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, says, “without trustworthy banks, there can be no business, no employment, no money. According to Branson, “People have got to be able to go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that the money they depo...
Stock market gains N138 billion despite profit taking
The stock market posted positive performance last week despite profit taking by some investors, as it sustained the growth recorded in the previous week. Precisely, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.7 per cent to close at 35,137.99, while market capitalisation gained N137.5 billion to print at N18.365 trillion. Apart from the NSE ASI index that appreciated, NSE Insurance, NSE ASeM and NSE Oil/Gas indices also went up by 2.61 per cent, 1.56 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 1.71 per cent respectively. Although the gains recorded in the market in November was expected to propel profit taking, some market analysts are still upbeat that the bulls would remain in control till the end of the year. “With the low yield environment in the fixed income space and investors’ cor...
Stock market volatility hits Norway’s sovereign wealth fund
Norway’s Central Bank on Tuesday said its pension fund lost 188 billion kroner ( 21 billion dollars equivalent) in the first half of 2020 amid stock market volatility during the coronavirus pandemic. The bank said the return on the sovereign wealth fund fell by 3.4 per cent during the January-to-June period. The Deputy Chief Executive of Norges Bank Investment Management, Trond Grande, said there were major fluctuations in the equity market. “The year started with optimism, but the outlook of the equity market quickly turned when the coronavirus started to spread globally. “The sharp decline in global stock markets during the first quarter is, however, limited by a massive monetary and financial policy response. “Even though markets recovered well in the second quarter, we are still witnes...
