Aurelia Butler

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    U.S. consumer spending beats expectations in April; inflation likely peaked

    Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.9% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. Data for March was revised higher to show outlays racing 1.4% instead of 1.1% as previously reported.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending gaining 0.7%. Spending is being supported by strong wage gains, with companies scrambling to fill a record 11.5 million job openings as of the end of March.The Federal Reserve’s hawkish monetary policy stance as it fights to quell high inflation and bring it back to its 2% target has fanned worries of a recession, sparking an equities sell-off and surge in U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar. Fears of an economic downturn have also been exacerbated by Russia’s dragging war against Ukraine as well as China’s zero COVID-19 policy, which have further entangled supply chains. The U.S. central bank has raised its policy interest rate by 75 basis points since March. The Fed is expected to hike the overnight rate by half a percentage point at each of its next meetings in June and July.Growth estimates for the second quarter are mostly above a 2.0 annualized rate. The economy contracted at a 1.5% pace in the January-March quarter, weighed down a record trade deficit and slower inventory accumulation relative to the fourth-quarter’s robust rate. Although inflation continued to increase in April, it was not at same magnitude as in recent months. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index gained 0.2% last month after shooting up 0.9% in March. In the 12 months through April, the PCE price index advanced 6.3% after jumping 6.6% in March.The annual PCE price index increase is slowing as last year’s large gains drop out of the calculation. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index gained 0.3%, rising by the same margin for three straight months. The so-called core PCE price index increased 4.9% year-on-year in April after rising 5.2% in March. It was the second straight month that the rate of increase in the annual core PCE price index decelerated. More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Two key takeaways from Nansen’s UST stablecoin depeg report

    The cryptocurrency ecosystem was awash with varying speculatory theories around the cause of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST’s decoupling from its $1 peg. The who and why seemed a mystery but the outcome was catastrophic, with UST dropping well below $1 while the value of Terra’s stablecoin token plummeting in value as a result.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

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    Russia will continue to service external debt in roubles, minister says

    (Reuters) – Russia will keep on paying its state Eurobond obligations in roubles and will defend its role as a reliable borrower by all possible means, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday.The finance ministry said on Wednesday that Russia would service its external debt in roubles, which can be converted into the currency of the original Eurobonds at a later date. More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Tether Enters Latin America Crypto Market with New Mexican Peso-Backed Stablecoin

    Tether Launches New Peso-Backed StablecoinOn Thursday, May 26th, Tether, the company operating the USDT stablecoin, announced the launch of a stablecoin pegged to the Mexican Peso.The MXNT becomes Tether’s fourth stablecoin, joining the dollar-pegged USDT, euro-pegged EURT, and Chinese yuan-pegged CNHT.Tether’s newest stablecoin, MXNT, will initially be available on the Ethereum, Tron and Polygon blockchains. The launch marks Tether’s entrance into Latin America.Tether Ventures into the Latin American MarketAccording to Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino, the increase in demand for crypto in Latin America formed the basis of the company’s decision to launch a stablecoin backed by the Mexican Peso.Ardoino further explained that the peso-backed stablecoin will provide residents of Mexico with a way to store value. He also hopes that the move will have a ripple effect that sees the launch of more peso-pegged stablecoins in future.According to Tether, the MXNT will provide a testing ground for onboarding new users in Latin America, and will pave the way for more fiat-pegged stablecoins in the region.On the FlipsideWhy You Should CareIn addition to providing a store of value, Tether hopes that the MXNT will help with the onboarding of new crypto users in the region.Tether (USDT) is now backed by non-U.S. government bonds – for more info, read:May 20th Crypto DigestTerra’s UST sparked a stablecoin panic. Find out what happened:TerraUST Loses Its Peg Once AgainContinue reading on DailyCoin More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    SEC Proposes to Combat ESG Greenwashing, Hester Pierce Opposes

    The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new federal rules on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure obligations to “separate the wheat from the chaff” in an attempt to combat the malpractice of ‘greenwashing’Yesterday the SEC panel voted 3:1 in favor of the proposed rule. Commissioner Hester Pierce was the only dissenting voter. With this change imposed in the system, the funds and Registered Investment Advisors (RIA) would be required to provide more detailed disclosure on ESG strategies and methodology in annual reports, fund prospectuses, and advisor disclosure documents like Form ADVsContinue reading on CoinQuora More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Possible Four Cryptos To Put On The Watchlist This Month

    Dogecoin (DOGE); Top Meme Crypto Under $1 Dogecoin (DOGE) is a decentralized cryptocurrency based on the doge meme in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. The crypto has no market cap.Currently, there are about 130 million DOGE tokens in circulation and that means for there to be a spike in its value there would need to be a high increase in demand. This was what happened in mid-2021 because of tweets by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) creator, Elon Musk. His talk about Dogecoin (DOGE) caused its value to go up by about 18,000% in 2021. The token went from $0.004 to about $0.74 in about six months.Although the crypto’s value has come down since then, it has a market cap of over $16 billion and is ranked 12th on CoinMarketCap. Seeing as it is currently under $1, Dogecoin (DOGE) has great potential for massive returns for its existing holders should it experience another spike in value like it did last year.Ethereum (ETH) Transitioning To Proof-of-Stake Released initially on the 30th of July in 2015, Ethereum (ETH) is a decentralized and open-source blockchain network with smart contract functionality. Its native token is Ether. Ethereum (ETH) has used its status as a smart contract front-runner to gain a significant competitive edge over others. It is currently the biggest decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem in the crypto world.Due to the network’s significant congestion and high transaction fees, developers have a plan to improve Ethereum’s (ETH) scalability. The platform is transitioning from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism which is expected to increase the network’s throughput to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). This would improve the blockchain’s adoption and increase its crypto value.Ethereum (ETH) has been predicted to have a market cap of over $500 billion in the decade and this is a very good reason to watch this crypto and maybe own it.NEAR Protocol (NEAR) Launched Stable-coin, USN NEAR Protocol (NEAR) was launched on the 22nd of April, 2020. It is a sharded, proof-of-stake, layer 1 blockchain that exists to foster ecosystem development and innovation through grant funding. It is simple to use, scalable, secure, and consists of an ever-expanding network of global community members, developers, and creatives. NEAR Protocol (NEAR) has recently launched its stable-coin offering, USN which has plans to pay its investors up to 20% annual interest.In January, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) raised $150 million and then another $350 million in a funding round in April. This funding could be used by the platform to drive development and this should attract more users and increase its value. The crypto is currently ranked 20th on CoinMarketCap with a market cap of over $7 billion.CashFi (CFI); Next-Generation of Liquid Staking CashFi (CFI) is a decentralized blockchain network that has plans to build collaboration and interconnection and will adopt a unique fee-sharing approach to provide its investors with access to several asset classes.These asset classes will include, liquid staking, NFTs, and synthetics. The platform has plans to unite the blockchain ecosystem and provide faster and more low-cost services that are scalable. These services all being provided in one place will allow for a smooth and simple to utilise user experience for even a newcomer to crypto.CashFi (CFI) will build the ideal ecosystem for providing top-tier liquid staking, NFT, and Synthetic Asset services. CFI Synths is a synthetics protocol designed by CashFi and will serve as a commodities dealing and trade financing platform inside CashFi’s ecosystem.Find out more information on the CashFi (CFI) Website and Telegram. You can also find more about presale here.Continue reading on DailyCoin More

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    in Economy

    U.S. equity funds pull first weekly inflow in seven weeks

    Graphic: Fund flows: US equities bonds and money market funds – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zdpxowkwavx/Fund%20flows%20US%20equities%20bonds%20and%20money%20market%20funds.jpg The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, have both gained more than 3% this week after seven straight weeks of losses, their longest losing streak since 2001. Upbeat outlooks from domestic companies including the largest U.S. lender JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) and Vans brand owner VF Corp (NYSE:VFC) helped boost sentiment. First-quarter earnings reports available for 491 of the S&P 500 companies show 78% beat expectations, according to Refinitiv. U.S. large-cap equity funds drew net inflows of $9.35 billion, the biggest in 15-weeks, but small- and mid-cap funds saw net outflows of $1.42 billion and $0.75 billion respectively. Investors secured value funds of $0.48 billion after two weeks of sales but growth funds posted a seventh weekly outflow worth $2.11 billion. Graphic: Fund flows: US growth and value funds – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/akpezrxrlvr/Fund%20flows%20US%20growth%20and%20value%20funds.jpg While industrials attracted $0.77 billion in net buying, financials and tech suffered outflows of about $1.2 billion each. Graphic: Fund flows: US equity sector funds – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/lgpdweaedvo/Fund%20flows%20US%20equity%20sector%20funds.jpg U.S. investors remained net sellers of bond funds for a 20th week, to the tune of $4.94 billion, albeit the smallest amount in four weeks. They sold U.S. taxable bond funds worth $4.41 billion and municipal funds worth $1.21 billion. U.S. high yield bond funds and general domestic taxable funds saw net outflows of $4.57 billion and $1.61 billion respectively, but short/intermediate government & treasury and inflation protected funds drew $1.96 billion and $1.04 billion in net inflows. Graphic: Fund flows: US bond funds – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/egvbkwqwzpq/Fund%20flows%20US%20bond%20funds.jpg U.S. money market funds attracted $44.07 billion worth of inflows after two weeks of net selling. More