MARKETS - Page 33

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had asked Coinbase to stop trading in all cryptocurrencies except bitcoin before suing the cryptocurrency platform, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The SEC it was alleged that Coinbase was operating as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency for securities. If the company had complied with the SEC’s request, it would have set a dangerous precedent that could leave the majority of crypto exchanges in the U.S. outside of the law unless

The government of President Luis Arce is determined to curb dependence on the U.S. dollar for foreign trade, turning instead to the Chinese yuan. The Andean country has already begun conducting financial transactions worth 278 million yuan ($38.7 million) from May through July, accounting for 10 percent of its foreign trade, Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro said Thursday in La Paz. In the face of a longstanding dollar shortage that has drained Bolivia’s national reserves, he said the ministry is also

The world’s biggest memory chip maker said the worst is over for the global semiconductor market but announced plans to extend production cuts because a demand recovery is primarily constrained to high-end chips used in artificial intelligence. The move underscored the unprecedented semiconductor downturn that led the South Korean firm to incur a record 8.9 trillion won ($7 billion) operating loss from its bread-and-butter chip business in the first six months of this year. On a conference call, Samsung’s executive

The yen dropped against the dollar on Friday after Reuters reported that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is leaning toward keeping its key yield control policy unchanged next week. Despite growing global economic uncertainties, this would mark a rare pause in the BoJ’s years of ultra-loose policy. The yen is typically a haven currency during market and economic turmoil. The report added that five sources familiar with the matter said that many BoJ policymakers prefer to scrutinize more data to

All eyes are on the Fed’s policy meeting this week, but it will be essential to some battered commodity currencies hoping for relief from a weaker dollar. Investors are zeroing in on the currencies of countries that produce oil and other raw materials, such as Norway and Australia, betting that a recovery in commodity prices will lift these currencies back toward fair value against the Dollar. The Norwegian krone NOK= and the Australian dollar AUD= have already declined about 2%

OpenAIs Sam Altman, an entrepreneur and programmer best known for his work with Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator and later at the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, launched a crypto project called Worldcoin on Monday. The company’s core offering is a digital ID called a World ID, which it describes as a “digital passport” to prove that its holder is an actual human, not an AI bot. To get a World ID, a customer signs up to do an in-person iris

An index designed to track turns in U.S. business cycles fell for the 15th straight month in June, dragged down by a weakening consumer outlook and increased unemployment claims. The Conference Board on Thursday said its Leading Economic Index, a measure that anticipates future economic activity, declined by 0.7% in June to 106.1 following a revised decrease of 0.6% in May. The decline was slightly more significant than the median expectation among economists in a Reuters poll for a 0.4%

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday as the market awaited second-quarter earnings and fresh details of the trade war between the United States and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose marginally to notch its 10th straight day of advances, the longest rally in almost six years. It was lifted by more than 1% gains each in Procter & Gamble (PG.N) and Chevron (CVX.N). The Dow is a popular benchmark used by investors, traders, and financial analysts to gauge

The U.S. Dollar (ISO code USD) is the national currency of the United States and is referred to as “the world’s reserve currency.” It has been the dominant global currency for decades, but its dominance is in question. The dollar is often viewed as a proxy for investor confidence in the U.S. economy and the country’s role in the world’s financial system. When the dollar is strong, it makes investments in other countries more expensive. In addition, companies with significant

The top cryptocurrency, bitcoin, could reach $50,000 this year and $120,000 by the end of 2024, according to a new forecast from Standard Chartered. The global bank said the jump in its price could encourage Bitcoin miners to hoard more of the supply. The bank first published a $100,000 end-2024 forecast for Bitcoin in April on the view that the so-called “crypto winter” was over. Geoff Kendrick, one of the bank’s top foreign exchange (FX) analysts, said on Monday there