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    Flaring economic worries threaten US stocks rally

    NEW YORK (Reuters) -Economic fears are roiling Wall Street, as worries grow that the Federal Reserve may have left interest rates elevated for too long, allowing them to hurt U.S. growth. Alarming economic data in recent days have deepened those concerns. U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in July, a Friday report showed, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.3%, heightening fears that a deteriorating labor market could make the economy vulnerable to a recession.The jobs report exacerbated a selloff in stocks that began on Thursday, when data showing weakness in the labor market and manufacturing sector pushed investors to dump everything from chip stocks to industrials while piling into defensive plays.Richly valued tech stocks tumbled further on Friday, extending losses in the Nasdaq Composite to more than 10% from a record closing high reached in July. The benchmark S&P 500 index has slid 5.7% from its July peak.“This is what a growth scare looks like,” said Wasif Latif, president and chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners. “The market is now realizing that the economy is indeed slowing.”For months, investors had been heartened by cooling inflation and gradually slowing employment, believing they bolstered the case for the Fed to begin cutting interest rates. That optimism drove big gains in stocks: the S&P 500 remains up 12% this year, despite recent losses; the Nasdaq has gained nearly 12%.Now that a September rate cut has come into view following a Fed meeting this week, investors are fretting that elevated borrowing costs may already be hurting economic growth. Corporate earnings results, which saw disappointments from companies such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), are adding to their concerns.“We’re witnessing the fallout from the curse of high expectations,” said James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management. “So much had been invested around the scenario of a soft landing, that anything that even suggests something different is difficult.”Next week brings earnings from industrial bellwether Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and media and entertainment giant Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), which will give more insight into the health of the consumer and manufacturing, as well as reports from healthcare heavyweights such as weight-loss drugmaker Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY).Bets in the futures markets on Friday suggested growing unease about the economy. Fed fund futures reflected traders pricing an over-70% chance of a 50-basis point cut at the central bank’s September meeting, compared to 22% the day before, according to CME FedWatch. Futures priced a total of 116 basis points in rate cuts in 2024, compared to just over 60 basis points priced in on Wednesday.Broader markets also showed signs of unease. The Cboe Volatility index – known as Wall Street’s fear gauge – hit its highest since March 2023 on Friday as demand for options protection against a stock market selloff rose. Meanwhile, investors have rushed into safe haven bonds and other defensive areas of the market. U.S. 10-year yields – which move inversely to bond prices – on Friday dropped as low as 3.79%, the lowest since December.Sectors that are often popular during times of economic uncertainty are also drawing investors. Options data for the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund showed the average daily balance between put and call contracts over the last month at its most bullish in about three years, according to a Reuters analysis of Trade Alert data.Trading in the options on Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund also shows a pullback in defensive positioning, highlighting traders’ expectations for strength for the sector. The healthcare sector is up 4% in the past month, while utilities are up over 9%. By contrast, the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index is down nearly 17% in that period amid sharp losses in investor favorites such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO).To be sure, some investors said the data could just be a reason to lock in profits after the market’s overall strong run in 2024.“This is a good excuse for investors to sell after a huge year to date rally,” said Michael Purves, CEO of Tallbacken Capital Advisors. “Investors should be prepared for some major volatility, particularly in the big tech stocks. But it will probably be short-lived.” More

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    US economy cools more than expected in July with 114,000 jobs added

    Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow HK$659 per monthBilled Quarterly at HK$1,499. Complete digital access plus the FT newspaper delivered Monday-Saturday.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

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    Margex Announces Integration of TON (Toncoin) for Deposits and Withdrawals

    Margex, a cryptocurrency trading platform boasting ultra-convenient and user-friendly copy trading, is excited to announce Margex TON (Toncoin) deposit and withdrawal.TON (Toncoin) has become a revolutionary blockchain technology that aims to bring something unique into the cryptocurrency ecosystem. TON, a native token of “The Open Network,” is designed to promote the infrastructure of digital transactions and decentralized applications. TON’s objective to focus on scalability, speed, and ease of use has tremendously improved the demand for and usability of the blockchain experience for many users, thereby positioning it as a major player and contributor to the blockchain space. Despite being relatively new to the blockchain space, TON (Toncoin) has grown significantly since 2024, helping with decentralized applications (DApps), TON has a total value of over $760 million and a market capitalization of $17.1 billion, sitting above TRON (Tron network) and AVAX (Avalanche). Key Features of TON for Margex UsersKey features of TON (Toncoin) that have driven much adoption and increased high demand for activities on its network include the following; 1 A Distributed Supercomputer – TON’s blockchain has been designed to act like a supercomputer that helps coordinate different products and services. Due to its unique design, TON has the potential to process millions of transactions per second (TPS), positioning its technology as a fast, secure, and decentralized system.2 Performance – TON has been built to handle smart contracts of different capacities and other complex transactions. This high-design system of TON also allows it to scale gaming platforms, decentralized finance systems (DeFi), and DAOs. 3 Speed and Scalability – In TON’s ecosystem, new blocks are generated every 5 seconds, making transactions and executing smart contract orders fast. To scale and meet demand, TON employs workchains and dynamic sharding to accommodate large numbers of users and transactions.Additionally, TON’s integration with Telegram enables seamless transactions, boosts usability experience, and opens the widespread adoption of Telegram-based tap-to-earn games like Notcoin (NOT), Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) airdrop, and other tap-to-earn Telegram games.The addition of TON on Margex to a list of its instant deposit and withdrawal options, such as Kaspa, will improve usability and provide more options for users to carry out transactions in the shortest time. Margex is a legit copy trading platform. To further improve the user experience, it has redesigned its platform with key features such as a zero-fee converter and a listing of high-traded pairs.Margex’s zero-fee converter enables users to swap from one token to another without additional cost, thereby encouraging portfolio diversification. Margex also plans to launch its ultra-modern wallet, which will help users manage all assets within its platform.With a minimum deposit of $10, traders can access all of Margex’s copy trading functionality, as it remains the most user-friendly platform in the crypto industry. Users can follow Margex on Facebook (NASDAQ:META), Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and YouTube, or join the Margex teamContactHead of CommunicationsAlsu IrkabaevaMargex [email protected] article was originally published on Chainwire More

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    MicroStrategy and BlackRock Will Sell Their Bitcoin, Peter Schiff Believes

    As of today, MicroStrategy owns 226,500 BTC, which is about $15.06 billion. In comparison, the IBIT ETF holds 343,387.46 BTC, which is about $21.7 billion.Peter Schiff, a well-known crypto skeptic, shared his thoughts on such a large Bitcoin (BTC) portfolio of the two market giants. Schiff suggests it is possible that the companies will have to sell their BTC bags. These very losses are inevitable, in Schiff’s view, however, because BTC is worthless in the expert’s opinion.What happens to the market when someone decides to sell a large stake could be seen a few weeks earlier in the example of Germany. When selling a $3 billion stake, one of the country’s administrative bodies managed to drop the price by 20% within a month.It is unknown what will happen if Schiff’s forecast turns out to be true and BlackRock and MicroStrategy decide to sell their Bitcoin holdings, which are 12 times bigger than Germany’s.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    Michael Saylor Teases Biggest Bitcoin Evangelical Milestone

    Notably, the Bitcoin evangelist preached the “gospel” of digital assets and its numerous advantages as capital preservation compared to financial assets. Saylor maintained that the high inflation rate has made many investors give up on financial assets as a way to preserve funds. Additionally, the high maintenance cost and depreciation in value over time make the class of assets an unwise investment.Saylor notes that while alternatives such as silver, gold and land may seem like better alternatives, these also have limited time values ranging between 22 years and 90 years on average.However, for Bitcoin, the minimum lifespan for digital assets begins from 1,000 years. According to Saylor, this intrinsic value lies in the fact that Bitcoin, a creation of Satoshi, remains a digital not impacted by material forces.The MicroStrategy chairman has always remained bullish on Bitcoin and, as recently reported by U.Today, Saylor issued a bold price prediction of $13 million as the digital asset’s base case by the year 2045. Analysts say the prediction helps to understand the accumulation strategy of MicroStrategy, which thinks in the long term.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    Bitcoin Skyrockets to New All-Time High in Mining Difficulty Amid Largest Increase Ever

    The latest difficulty adjustment shows that competition among miners is on the rise as the Bitcoin network expands and becomes more complex after this year’s halving.Higher mining difficulty usually means a tougher environment for miners, which can affect Bitcoin’s overall network security and the efficiency of mining operations. This could lead to higher operational costs for miners, which might influence the future dynamics of Bitcoin’s price.Meanwhile, as of today, Bitcoin’s price stands at $62,800. In the past 24 hours, the trading volume reached $44.90 billion. Quotes of the main cryptocurrency have experienced a decline of 3.9% since the start of the new trading session, with the daily high recorded at $65,600 and the daily low at $62,600.The big change in difficulty could have an impact on how stable Bitcoin’s price is and how people on the market make their decisions.It is not straightforward how the difficulty of mining affects the price of Bitcoin. On the one hand, it could make mining more difficult, but on the other, it could signal that the network is more secure, which might affect how investors feel about it and how the market moves.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    Bitcoin (BTC) Hashrate Extremely Close to ATH, CryptoQuant Says

    In order to revisit its all-time high, Bitcoin (BTC) miners should raise its hashrate by 2%, as of now. The CryptoQuant team stresses that this should be treated as a positive sign for the market.In the midterm, the higher hashrate is a result of recovering revenues and miners being fairly paid now after experiencing an extremely underpaid situation since April, when BTC halving reduced block rewards by 50%.Daily miner revenues have increased by almost 50% since early July, which appears to be the period of “maximum pain” for the segment. As covered by U.Today, in mid-April, BTC block rewards for miners dropped to 3,125 Bitcoins (BTC) per block.Namely, daily Bitcoin (BTC) miner outflows have remained between 5,000-10,000 in July, which is roughly equal to 50% of March 2024 levels.However, Bitcoin (BTC) miners remain dependent on BTC price volatility. Daily transaction fees dropped by orders of magnitude in recent months, researchers say.This article was originally published on U.Today More