Author: FX

5/5 © Reuters. Trucks block a street as part of a “general strike” following the detention of Santa Cruz opposition governor Luis Fernando Camacho, for whom prosecutors are seeking pre-trial detention in connection to the 2019 political unrest, in Santa Cruz de la Sierr 2/5 By Nadia Arce and Santiago Limachi SANTA CRUZ/LA PAZ (Reuters) – Protesters in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz, a relatively wealthy farming region, attacked buildings, burned cars and blocked highways as part of a 24-strike on Friday following the arrest of the regional governor, a right-wing opposition leader. As night fell, protesters in parts of the provincial…

The 2022 year is in the books and the final rankings of the strongest to the weakest of the major currencies is showing the USD as the strongest and the JPY as the weakest. The strongest to the weakest of the major currenciesThe central bank fundamentals drove both the USD and the JPY to their respective positions. The Federal Reserve hiked rates the fastest and the most of all the major countries. Overall, the Federal Reserve hiked rates by 4.25% from 0.25% at the end of 2021 to 4.5% (high target) at the end of 2022. The Bank of Japan…

Leon Neal FTX Trading and its debtors have informed he Bahamas Securities Commission that neither Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, or the Securities Commission of the Bahamas had a right to take the cryptocurrency of the FTX debtors, it said in a statement late Friday. Late Thursday, the Securities Commission said it took control of FTX digital assets valued at more than $3.5B as of Nov. 12, because it “determined that there was a significant risk of imminent dissipation” if they stayed under FTX’s control. That statement did not identify the type of digital assets that were seized. The debtors said…

Kevork Djansezian The New Year will bring fresh action on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) $69B bid to take over Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), as a judge has set the first pretrial hearing on the government’s case against the deal for Tuesday, Jan. 3. That news came after Chile joined a small group of countries that have given their OK to the acquisition so far – including Brazil, Serbia, and Saudi Arabia. Key regulatory players have yet to weigh in, though, including the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. In early December, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $69B…

Andrey Tolkachev Japanese blockchain developer EarlyWorks (ELWS) has filed for a $16M US initial public offering. EarlyWorks didn’t specify in its filing the number or price of the American Depositary Shares it intends to offer. However, the company indicated in an attached filing fee schedule that it was looking to raise up to $16M. The tech company hopes to list its shares on Nasdaq under the symbol ELWS. Univest is serving as lead bookrunner. EarlyWorks has been operating in the red. For the fiscal year ended April 30, it reported a net loss of $4.6M on operating revenue of $3.6M.…

Just_Super/iStock via Getty Images Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is on track to end the year ~65% lower, capping off one of its most challenging years since its inception. The top cryptocurrency is set to end the last week of the year 1.3% lower. The 65% drop contrasts sharply with ~60% gain in 2021 and a whopping fourfold increase in 2020. In 2018, bitcoin (BTC-USD) had declined ~74%. 2022 saw the crypto market buckle under the weight of multiple bankruptcies, including the FTX (FTT-USD) crash, along with weak risk appetite as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes spooked investors, who widely expect a…

da-kuk Chinese edtech Ruanyun Edai Technology (RYET) has filed to raise up to $35M through a US initial public offering. Ruanyun said in a filing that it was considering offering 5M ordinary shares priced between $5 and $6 per share, which would raise around $28M if priced at the midpoint. An attached filing fee schedule indicated the company was looking to raise up to $35M. Underwriters would be granted a 45-day option to purchase up to 750K additional shares. Univest Securities and AC Sunshine Securities are serving as lead bookrunners. The company has been operating in the red. For the…

S&P 500, VIX Volatility Index, Volume and Seasonality Talking Points:The Market Perspective: S&P 500 Range Between 4,100 and 3,600; Bearish S&P 500 Below 3,500The S&P 500 absorbed an approximate -20 percent loss in 2022, the worst year’s performance for the index since 2008While there are unresolved fundamental matters that continue to represent a burden to sentiment heading into 2023, there is also favorable analysis – such as seasonality norms Recommended by John Kicklighter Get Your Free Top Trading Opportunities Forecast We have brought to a close the 2022 trading year and are now heading into 2023. As is often expected…

Both 10 and 2 year yields moved higher in 2022, pushed by much tighter central bank policy. 10 year yields moved sharply higher in 2022The chart above shows the 2021 end of year 10 year yields, the end of year 2022 10 year yields, along with the changes for the year in those yields for major global countries. The largest gains in 10 year yields for the year were in EU as the markets started to discount higher yields in 2023 to fight inflation due to a more hawkish ECB going into 2023. The German 10 year is up 2.753%,…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man on a bicycle stands in front of an electronic board showing Shanghai stock index, Nikkei share price index and Dow Jones Industrial Average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon By Sinéad Carew and Carolyn Cohn NEW YORK, LONDON (Reuters) – Wall Street equity indexes finished lower on Friday on 2022’s last trading day, while Treasury yields rose along with oil futures as investors braced for the new year with worries about a potential recession and the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hiking path. In currencies, the dollar, a beneficiary of…