Cryptocurrencies Rise Amidst Rate Cut Uncertainty

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

Cryptocurrencies rose in the past 24 hours amidst uncertainty regarding the interest rate trajectory in the U.S.

Fed rate cut expectations were reinforced with the release of the Fed’s Beige book on Wednesday. The commentary on current economic conditions across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts pointed to continued sluggishness in the U.S. economy. The report showed that economic activity was little changed in nearly all Districts since early September, though two Districts reported modest growth. Most Districts reported declining manufacturing activity.

However, the initial jobless claims data released by the U.S. department of labor on Thursday dampened rate cut hopes. Initial jobless claims for the week ended October 19 unexpectedly decreased to 227 thousand from 242 thousand in the previous week. Markets had expected a level of 242 thousand. The decline in claims triggered fears of the Fed delaying rate cuts as concerns about the labor market diminished.

The CME FedWatch tool now shows the likelihood of a quarter point rate cut in November at 93 percent versus 91.8 percent a day earlier, 87.7 percent a week earlier and 41.8 percent a month earlier.

Crypto market sentiment has also been swayed by attempts to assess the potential outcome of the U.S. presidential election on risk assets, specifically cryptocurrencies. With bets of a win for Donald Trump rising, crypto analysts have turned the spotlight on the likely post-election behavior of risk assets, given the anticipated surge in the U.S. Dollar as well as U.S. treasury yields. Amidst a lingering fear that Trump’s tax and tariff policies could increase inflationary pressures, markets are wary of adverse cryptocurrency price movements even in the event of a Trump presidency.

Amidst the renewed uncertainty, Coinmarketcap’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a barometer of the emotional state of the market has cooled to 52, denoting a neutral stance underpinned on uncertainty. It was 60 (greed) a week earlier and 51 (neutral) a month earlier.

Mildly positive sentiment prevails in crypto currency market, with overall market capitalization rising close to a percent overnight. Market capitalization is currently at $2.31 trillion.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $67,664.66, around 8 percent below the all-time high recorded in March 2024. Bitcoin has gained 1.8 percent overnight and 1.4 percent over the past 7 days. Year-to-date gains have also increased to more than 60 percent.

Data from Farside Investors on Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. showed net inflows of $192.4 million on Wednesday versus net outflows of $79.1 million on Tuesday. iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) topped with inflows of $317.5 million. Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) that witnessed record outflows on Wednesday topped outflows with $99 million.

Ethereum slipped 1.7 percent overnight to trade at $2,530.23, around 48 percent below the all-time high. Ether has shed 2.6 percent in the past 7 days. Year-to-date gains have also decreased to 10.9 percent.

Data from Farside Investors on Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. showed net inflows of $1.2 million on Wednesday versus net inflows of $11.9 million a day earlier.

Bitcoin’s crypto market dominance has increased to 57.7 percent from 57.3 percent a day earlier. In contrast, Ethereum’s share of the overall crypto market has slipped to 13.2 percent from 13.5 percent a day earlier.

4th ranked BNB (BNB) added 1.2 percent overnight but has slipped quarter percent on a weekly basis to trade at $590.69. BNB has gained close to 89 percent in 2024.

5th ranked Solana (SOL) rallied 4.5 percent overnight and 15.2 percent over the past 7 days. SOL is currently trading at $175.17.

7th ranked XRP (XRP) edged up 0.62 percent overnight but is saddled with weekly losses of more than 4.2 percent to trade at $0.5296. Year-to-date losses are a little more than 13.8 percent.

Dogecoin (DOGE), ranked 8th overall has gained 0.8 percent in the past 24 hours and 14.9 percent in the past week to trade at $0.1398.

9th ranked TRON (TRX) rallied 2.2 percent overnight and in the past week. TRX is currently trading at $0.1635.

10th ranked Toncoin (TON) edged up 0.10 percent overnight but has slipped 0.3 percent over the past 7 days to trade at $5.16.

73rd ranked cat in a dogs world (MEW), a Solana-based meme coin topped overnight gains with a surge of 13.3 percent. 55th ranked Popcat (POPCAT) followed with an addition of 12.5 percent.

78th ranked Apecoin (APE) topped overnight losses with an erosion of 7.9 percent. 91st ranked Axie Infinity (AXS) and 69th ranked Maker (MKR) followed with losses of more than 3 percent.

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Unilever Stock Up On Q3 Underlying Sales Growth, Outlook

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

Shares of Unilever Plc were gaining around 3 percent in the Amsterdam trading as well as on the NYSE on Thursday after the consumer goods major reported higher underlying sales growth in its third quarter, and maintained its fiscal 2024 growth forecast. The third-quarter sales, on a reported basis, remained flat.

CEO Hein Schumacher said, “We have delivered a fourth consecutive quarter of positive, improved volume growth, with each of our Business Groups driving higher volumes year-on-year…. We are on track to deliver our 2024 outlook and are confident that the steps we are taking will help to transform Unilever over time into a consistently higher performing business.”

Regarding the progress on the planned Ice Cream separation and productivity programme, the company said the separation activity is on track to complete by the end of 2025.

For the full year, the company continues to expect underlying sales growth to be within its multi-year range of 3 percent to 5 percent, with the majority of the growth being driven by volume.

Underlying operating margin for the full year is expected to be at least 18 percent. The year-on-year margin progression in the second half would be smaller than in the first half.

In its third-quarter trading statement, Unilever said its turnover of 15.2 billion euros was in line with the prior year, amid a negative currency impact of 2.8 percent and 1.5 percent from disposals net of acquisitions.

Underlying sales growth was 4.5 percent against slower market growth, led by its Power Brands, with particularly strong performances from Dove, Liquid I.V., Comfort and Magnum. Price growth continued to moderate in line with expectations.

Underlying volume increased to 3.6 percent as all business groups achieved positive volume growth. As expected, underlying price growth continued to moderate to 0.9 percent.

In the quarter, the Power Brands recorded 5.4 percent underlying sales growth, driven by volume growth of 4.3 percent. Other brands also delivered volume growth of 1.3 percent.

Beauty & Wellbeing sales increased 5.5 percent to 3.2 billion euros on a reported basis, and the growth was 6.7 percent on an underlying basis, with volume growth of 5.7 percent.

Personal Care sales, meanwhile, dropped 5.7 percent to 3.4 billion euros, while underlying sales increased 4.4 percent with 3.1 percent from volume, driven by a strong Dove performance.

Home Care sales also declined 2.9 percent to 3 billion euros, but underlying sales increased 1.9 percent, with 3.3 percent volume growth.

Nutrition sales fell 1.5 percent to 3.2 billion euros, but underlying sales grew 1.5 percent.

Sales of Ice Cream unit, which is being separated, were 2.4 billion euros, up 8.1 percent on a reported basis and up 9.8 percent on an underlying basis, with 6.7 percent growth from volume and 2.9 percent from price.

In the quarter, underlying sales from developed markets increased 6.9 percent with 6.8 percent from volume and 0.1 percent from price. Emerging markets’ sales also went up 2.9 percent, with 1.4 percent from volume and 1.5 percent from price.

Meanwhile, sales in China declined low-single digit with market weakness across categories. South East Asia declined mid-single digit, driven by an 18 percent decline in Indonesia.

In Amsterdam, Unilever shares were trading at 57.68 euros, up 3.33 percent.

On the NYSE, the shares are at $62.26, up 2.67 percent.

U.S. New Home Sales Surge More Than Expected To Highest Level In Over A Year

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

New home sales in the U.S. rebounded by much more than expected in the month of September, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The Commerce Department said new home sales surged by 4.1 percent to an annual rate of 738,000 in September after tumbling by 2.3 percent to a revised rate of 709,000 in August.

Economists had expected new home sales to climb by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 720,000 from the 716,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales reached their highest level since hitting an annual rate of 741,000 in May 2023.

The report said new home sales in the Northeast skyrocketed by 21.7 percent to an annual rate of 28,000, while new home sales in the South spiked by 5.8 percent to an annual rate of 477,000.

Meanwhile, new home sales in the West were unchanged at an annual rate of 156,000, and new home sales in the Midwest slumped by 2.5 percent to an annual rate of 77,000.

The Commerce Department also said the median sales price of new houses sold in September was $426,300, up 3.8 percent from $410,900 in August and up 0.1 percent from $426,100 a year ago.

The estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 470,000, which represents 7.6 months of supply at the current sales rate. The months of supply is down from 7.9 in August but up from 7.5 in September 2023.

A separate report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday unexpectedly showed a continued decrease by existing home sales in the U.S. in the month of September.

NAR said existing home sales slid by 1.0 percent to an annual rate of 3.84 million in September after tumbling by 2.0 percent to a revised rate of 3.88 million in August.

Economists had expected existing home sales to increase by 1.0 percent to a rate of 3.90 million from the 3.86 million originally reported for the previous month.

Nasdaq, S&P 500 Regaining Ground But Dow Seeing Further Downside

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

After ending the previous session sharply lower, the major U.S. stock indexes are turning in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are regaining ground, the narrower Dow is seeing further downside.

Currently, the Dow is down 155.38 points or 0.4 percent at 42,359.57, but the Nasdaq is up 84.66 points or 0.5 percent at 18,361.32 and the S&P 500 is up 6.46 points or 0.1 percent at 5,803.88.

The rebound by the tech-heavy Nasdaq is partly due to a surge by shares of Tesla (TSLA), with the electric vehicle maker soaring 17.0 percent.

The spike by Tesla comes after the company reported better than expected third quarter earnings and CEO Elon Musk said his “best guess” is “vehicle growth” will reach 20 to 30 percent next year.

Shares of UPS (UPS) are also seeing significant strength after the delivery giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

On the other hand, a nosedive by shares of IBM (IBM) is weighing on the Dow, with the tech giant plunging by 6.6 percent after reporting weaker than expected third quarter revenues.

Fellow Dow component Honeywell (HON) has also tumbled by 3.8 percent after the conglomerate reported better than expected third quarter earnings but revenues missed estimates.

Boeing (BA) has also moved to the downside after the aerospace giant’s machinists union rejected a new labor deal, extending a six-week strike.

Sector News

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, gold stocks have moved sharply lower despite an increase by the price of the precious metal.

Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is tumbling by 2.7 percent, pulling back further off Tuesday’s four-year closing high.

Airline stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Southwest Airlines (LUV) is posting a steep loss despite reporting better than expected third quarter results.

Oil service are also under pressure amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil, while housing stocks have moved notably higher following the release of a Commerce Department report showing a spike by new home sales in September.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.3 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.7 percent, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are regaining ground after moving notably lower over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.0 basis points at 4.202 percent.

Nasdaq, S&P 500 Regain Ground But Dow Extends Losing Streak

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

Following the steep drop seen during Wednesday’s session, the major U.S. stock indexes turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground, but the narrower Dow saw further downside to close lower for the fourth straight day.

The major averages finished the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Dow dipped 140.59 points or 0.3 percent to 42,374.36, the S&P 500 rose 12.44 points or 0.2 percent to 5,809.86 and the Nasdaq climbed 138.83 points or 0.8 percent to 18,415.49.

The rebound by the tech-heavy Nasdaq was partly due to a surge by shares of Tesla (TSLA), with the electric vehicle maker soaring by 21.9 percent.

The spike by Tesla came after the company reported better than expected third quarter earnings and CEO Elon Musk said his “best guess” is “vehicle growth” will reach 20 to 30 percent next year.

Shares of UPS (UPS) also saw significant strength after the delivery giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

On the other hand, a nosedive by shares of IBM (IBM) weighed on the Dow, with the tech giant plunging by 6.2 percent after reporting weaker than expected third quarter revenues.

Fellow Dow component Honeywell (HON) also tumbled by 5.1 percent after the conglomerate reported better than expected third quarter earnings but revenue missed estimates.

Boeing (BA) also moved to the downside after the aerospace giant’s machinists union rejected a new labor deal, extending a six-week strike.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although substantial weakness was visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index plunging by 3.5 percent.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) led the sector lower, plummeting by 5.6 percent even though the airline reported better than expected third quarter results.

Gold stocks also showed a substantial move to the downside despite an increase by the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.9 percent.

On the other hand, housing stocks saw considerable strength on the day, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.5 percent.

The strength among housing stocks came after the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales surged to their highest level in over a year in September.

Other Markets

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed modest moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving notably lower over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.2 basis points to 4.200 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to a report on durable goods orders and a revised reading on consumer sentiment.

Irish Data Protection Commission Fines LinkedIn Ireland EUR 310 Mln Over Targeted Advertising

Posted on October 24, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

Microsoft-owned employment-focused social media platform LinkedIn was fined 310 million euros (about $335 million) for privacy violations related to its tracking ads business.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) Thursday announced its final decision following an inquiry into LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company.

This inquiry was launched by the DPC following a complaint initially made to the French Data Protection Authority.

The inquiry examined LinkedIn’s processing of personal data for the purposes of behavioral analysis and targeted advertising of users who have created LinkedIn profiles.

The decision, which was made by the Commissioners for Data Protection, Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland, and notified to LinkedIn on 22 October 2024, concerns the lawfulness, fairness and transparency of this processing.

“The lawfulness of processing is a fundamental aspect of data protection law and the processing of personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subject’s fundamental right to data protection,” DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said.

Buying the S&P 500 as the Retreat in Stock Market Stops

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

After yesterday’s stock market retreat, today main indices consolidated, which is a sign that the retreat is over, so we decided to open a buy S&P 500 trade. Earlier in the day, the risk sentiment as positive, and European equities were making some gains, but they gave back the gins and ended the day largely unchanged as well. Continue reading “Buying the S&P 500 as the Retreat in Stock Market Stops” →

USDCAD Remains Supported at 1.38 As US Services, Mfg Improve

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

USDCAD resumed the upside price action today after strong US services and better manufacturing PMI data for October. Despite the bullish trend slowing down this week, USD/CAD remains supported by moving averages, as shown on the H4 chart and after the 50 pip bounce today, the price is now trading at the highest level since early August. Continue reading “USDCAD Remains Supported at 1.38 As US Services, Mfg Improve” →

Nvidia Achieves $3.4 Trillion Market Cap

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Timothy St. John

Artificial intelligence chip manufacturer Nvidia (NVDA) is still a stock market darling and one of the most successful companies in the world. In fact, they have recently hit a market milestone.

Stock markets retreat ahead of Nvidia earnings — Nvidia’s stock is climbing as its market cap increases to new levels.

Nvidia just passed a market cap of $3.4 trillion, which places them only second in the world behind Apple (AAPL), which has a market cap of $3.57 trillion. Microsoft (MSFT) comes in third with $3.11 trillion.

If Nvidia continues to push forward and the demand for their chips remains high, they could be the first company in the world to hit a market cap of $4 trillion. It was just back in 2023 that Nvidia became the seventh US company to have a market cap of $1 trillion or more, and it has shot up ever since.

Nvidia has a new Blackwell platform that has already sold out for all of 2024, according to reports. This platform comes with 1.4 exaflops of processing power, and that level of power is required to run AI programs that are notorious processing power drains.

Will the AI Bubble Burst?

There has been a lot of talk about the artificial intelligence market simply imploding in the near future, but so far, there seems to be no indication that this will happen. Instead, the demand continues to increase at an insane pace, with companies like Nvidia having trouble keeping up with the demand.

So many companies are moving to AI generation of some kind, whether that is in chatbot form or for image generation or to create videos, sounds, or text. There are endless uses for the technology, especially in technology and creative arts fields, and Nvidia is simply doing its best to meet those demands. They have also done very well at anticipating the problems of the next generation of AI technology and made their chips as future proof as possible with powerful capabilities that should make them useful for at least a while longer.

Since early 2023, Nvidia’s stock has multiplied tenfold, and there seems to be no slowing down. If the bubble for AI products were to burst anytime soon, we would see some indications of it, but there are no signs that this will happen in the near future. AI is the technology of this age, and it is being adopted at a remarkable rate by companies that are not even in the tech field. Nvidia’s position on the stock market is likely assured for the long term.

Bitcoin Whales Increase to Numbers Not Seen Since 2021

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Timothy St. John

Any Bitcoin (BTC) holder who holds more than one thousand bitcoins is considered a whale, and now there are more of these than we have seen in three years.

Does that mean that Bitcoin could be ready to rally again? It certainly suggests that there is increased interest in the coin from people who are willing to invest in a big way. There are currently 1,678 Bitcoin whales, and that is the largest number of whales that has been recorded since January of 2021.

The information came from Glassnode, a decentralized currency analysis group. Their data shows that the number of Bitcoin whales has increased, and that is happening alongside an increase in spot ETF purchases, which offer low risk entry into the market.

Bitcoin is currently priced at $67,830 (BTC/USD0 and it is climbing from this morning’s early numbers. The coin is recovering from a drop to $65,198 and is up 2.47% over the last 24 hours. It looks like the coin is already starting a bullish trend again.

What Does the Increase in Whale Numbers Mean?

Analysts have been expecting Bitcoin to shoot to a new record high for a long time. Back in March of this year, Bitcoin recorded a new all-time high, and it has yet to surpass that. Since then, there have been price predictions that have speculated about when a new record would be set. Some hindrances to Bitcoin’s return to those levels have upset the cryptocurrency market, including Middle East fighting, a tough economy, and stubborn inflation. As some of those factors start to improve, Bitcoin’s odds of setting a new record high are looking better.

Whales are important to crypto analytics, and their movements can have a major impact on how the price level moves. Whales tend to buy and sell large quantities of Bitcoin at once, which creates market fluctuations. The fact that there are more of them than have been seen in years says something significant about their control over the market. It also tells us that there is renewed interest in Bitcoin as a long-term investment.

If the whales decide to make a move that involves a number of them at once, then that could create a powerful change in the market. Investors should pay attention to this data and reconsider Bitcoin’s chances of growing exponentially.