Author: Olumide Adesina

Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian financial writer. He tracks the financial markets with over 15 years of working experience in investment trading.

Good News for Homebuyers: US Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest Since Late 2022

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

US mortgage rates fell to one of their lowest points in years last week, which spurred a surge in buying and refinancing activity and gave hope to the flagging housing market.

US existing home sales are expected to slow in June

In the final week of January, the 30-year mortgage contract rate fell 7 basis points to 6.18 percent. 9, based on data published on Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

That is one of the lowest readings since 2022 and the lowest since September 2024.

The five-year adjustable mortgage rate fell to 5.42 percent, the second-lowest since May 2023, by almost half a percentage point.
The MBA’s purchase index rose by almost 16% last week to the second-highest level since February 2023 amid lower home financing costs.

For the first time since September, the refinancing gauge increased by over 40%.

At the beginning of the year and in the run-up to holidays, there are usually significant weekly fluctuations in mortgage activity. However, the numbers show some respite for a housing market that has been severely impacted by low affordability in recent years.

Thanks to builder incentives and price reductions, the annualized pace of new home sales in October was almost at its highest since 2023, according to government data released on Tuesday. President Donald Trump has suggested prohibiting institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes in an effort to increase housing affordability.

In an attempt to reduce the cost of home financing, he also ordered Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds. Responses from mortgage bankers are used in the MBA survey, which has been conducted weekly since 1990.

Ripple’s XRP Set for SWIFT Integration Breakthrough Amid Fading Regulatory Storm

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Crypto Sensei” pieced together several developments that, when considered collectively, depict a far more permissive environment for XRP, tokenization, and bank-led crypto services than many investors may be aware.

Gottfried Leibbrandt, a former CEO of Swift, made the headline claim when he recently stated that once regulatory volatility and legal uncertainty subside, Swift could integrate “native currencies like XRP.” Without clear regulations, “the benefits do not outweigh the costs” for institutions that might otherwise use volatile cryptocurrency assets for settlement, according to Sensei, who emphasizes that the problem is not technology but rather bank risk appetite.

He saw this as structural pressure rather than a “crypto roadmap,” since ISO-native payment systems like RippleNet will be in a better position once legacy formats and paper checks are phased out.

He reiterates a point that is frequently overlooked in online discussions: payment systems, not tokens themselves, are subject to ISO compliance.
A recent clip of Fed Chair Jerome Powell declaring that US banks are “perfectly able to serve crypto customers” as long as operations are safe, sound, and compliant is heavily referenced in the video.

According to Sensei, the Fed, FDIC, and OCC replaced their earlier, more stringent joint crypto statements with principles-based guidance in 2025. Sensei contends that instead of developing intricate crypto rails internally, banks are more likely to “white-label” infrastructure from companies like Ripple, Circle, Fireblocks, or Coinbase.

He believed that a sizable portion of institutional traffic could be discreetly routed through XRP-enabled systems without ever being advertised by brands.

Gold, Silver Soar to Fresh All-Time Highs as Rate-Cut Bets and China Revival Fuel Metals Frenzy

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Gold hit a new all-time high on Wednesday, while silver surged up to 5.3 percent to break the $90 per ounce mark for the first time. Among base metals, tin stood out with a gain of up to 6 percent at one point, and copper reached a record high before falling back.

Gold Futures Top $3,993 – Safe Haven Demand and Central Bank Buying Drive Surge

Expectations for increased manufacturing demand, especially in emerging industries like artificial intelligence, are supporting many metals. The rally has been fueled by a speculative frenzy in China, where traders and wealthy investors are heavily investing in commodities such as copper, nickel, and lithium.

Trading volumes on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have increased significantly.

On Wednesday, the total open interest in all six of SHFE’s base metals hit a new record. This rally, especially in precious metals, has also been boosted by the so-called debasement trade, where investors avoid government bonds and currencies due to concerns over rising debt levels.

Commodities priced in dollars are attractive because of the relatively weak dollar. Last year, both gold and silver experienced their best annual performances since 1979, with gold increasing by 65% and silver nearly 150%. As global mines and smelters struggle to meet demand, base metals are generally benefiting from expectations of a tighter supply this year.

There were several notable disruptions in the copper market last year, including restrictions in China, the world’s largest aluminum producer, and a decline in tin exports from Indonesia, the second-largest supplier.

Strategy Buys $1.25 Billion in Bitcoin in Largest Purchase Since July

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Strategy purchased nearly $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin, the company’s biggest acquisition of the virtual currency since July. According to a regulatory filing on Monday, the former MicroStrategy purchased 13,627 Bitcoin between January 5 and January 11.

 

The money from the at-market sales of its Class A common stock was used for most of the most recent acquisitions. The action follows the company’s announcement last week that the drop in the value of its cryptocurrency holdings caused an unrealized loss of $17.44 billion in the fourth quarter.

Multibillion-dollar fluctuations in profits and losses resulted from the company’s adoption of accounting standards that required it to include the fair value of its Bitcoin holdings in its earnings. In the three months ending in December, Bitcoin dropped by 24%. 31, the biggest decline since 2022’s second quarter.

The multibillion-dollar loss occurs at a crucial moment for the software manufacturer from the .-com era that is now a leveraged Bitcoin proxy and has accumulated approximately $62 billion in cryptocurrency holdings. The treasury-company model that chairman and co-founder Saylor invented over five years ago has started to lose favor with investors.

The company’s shares fell 48% in 2025 after outperforming benchmark stock indexes after the change. Since the cryptocurrency doesn’t generate any income and the software business generates little positive cash flow, the declining share price raised concerns that Strategy would have to sell Bitcoin to cover future expenses like growing dividends and interest payments. The business set up a cash reserve in December to allay concerns. 1 through the sale of common stock. As of January 4, the reserve was worth $2.25 billion.

DeepSeek Founder Liang Wenfeng’s Hedge Fund Soars 57% in 2025, Fueling AI Revolution on a Budget

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, achieved returns of over 50% last year despite spending far less than competitors, boosting the company’s potential war chest. DeepSeek has already shaken up the global tech scene.

Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, which manages over 70 billion yuan ($10 billion), reported an average return of 56.6 percent across its funds in 2025. PaiPaiWang noted this made it the second-best performer among Chinese quant funds managing over 10 billion yuan. Only Ningbo Lingjun Investment Management Partnership, which led the nation’s top quants with gains of more than 70%, outperformed it.

Li stated that, assuming a 1 percent management fee and a 20 percent performance fee, the fund’s explosive growth last year could have generated over $700 million.

That is orders of magnitude more than the reported budget of less than $6 million DeepSeek needed to develop its groundbreaking AI model, while some competitors have questioned those cost claims.

PaiPaiWang reported that two products managed by Xu Jin, a co-founder of High-Flyer, increased by an average of 58.6%.

Simon Lu, the CEO, oversaw eight products with an average return of 56%. Lu also ranked last. With a Sharpe ratio of 2.8 percent as of December, it was one of the top quant funds based on risk-adjusted returns for stock strategies last year.

, High-Flyer’s main product line now consists of those funds after abandoning market-neutral strategies in 2024 to go “all-in” on long-only strategies, all aiming to outperform their underlying stock indexes. The gains exemplify China’s quant funds’ stellar year, with an average return of 30.5 percent last year.

Gold Smashes $4,600 Record as DOJ Threatens Fed with Criminal Indictment

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Gold and silver reached all-time highs as the US Justice Department threatened the Federal Reserve with a criminal indictment. At the same time, protests in Iran bolstered the demand for a haven, reigniting concerns about its independence.

 

Silver approached $85, and the yellow metal surged toward $4,600 per ounce, following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement that the possible indictment “should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure” to influence the bank’s interest-rate decisions.

The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the Fed last year were a significant factor that weakened the dollar and bolstered gold.

In the meantime, deadly protests in Iran have made precious metals more appealing as a haven if the Islamic Republic is overthrown.

Just over a week after seizing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he was considering options regarding Iran while reiterating threats to seize Greenland and questioning the usefulness of the NATO alliance.

Precious metals are at the center of a strong upward re-rating due to a confluence of tailwinds that have increased demand.

Gold and silver have benefited from several factors, including declining US interest rates, increased geopolitical tensions, diminished confidence in the US dollar, and challenges to the Fed. Due to their belief in gold’s long-term appeal, more than a dozen money managers stated they have chosen not to remove too much money from the market.

“Geopolitics, the growth/rates debate, and now a new headline-driven reminder of an institutional risk premium are just a few of the many uncertainties markets are juggling.”

Alphabet Hits $4 Trillion: Google’s AI Comeback Cements its Top Place

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Alphabet became one of the few companies to surpass $4 trillion in market capitalization on Monday as investors increasingly view the parent company of Google as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom.

 

Shares increased as much as 1.7 percent to $334 with a market capitalization of $4 trillion. Recently, the business surpassed Apple Inc. to become the second-largest company.  Apple, Microsoft Corp., and Nvidia have surpassed $4 trillion, and Nvidia is still the only business to reach $5 trillion.

The increase on Monday followed CNBC’s report that Apple had chosen Gemini to power an AI-powered Siri digital assistant. Bloomberg News revealed in November that Apple intended to pay Alphabet roughly $1 billion annually for an AI Siri.

The stock has increased by 4.8 percent so far this year, building on last year’s rally of over 65 percent, which made it the best-performing of the Magnificent Seven.

Alphabet’s market valuation increased by nearly $1.5 trillion over 2025. Nearly at their highest level since 2021, shares are trading at about 28 times estimated earnings, which is significantly higher than their 10-year average of 20.5.

In the middle of 2025, Alphabet’s multiple dropped to almost 14. Alphabet is still trading at a small discount to the Magnificent Seven Index as a whole, despite the increase in valuation.

Additionally, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a tech company, provided a unique kind of validation for the company’s value credentials. disclosed in November that it had acquired a portion of Alphabet in the third quarter. The renowned investor, who is generally less exposed to tech stocks, is demonstrating confidence with this position.

Tide Turns: XRP Ready to Bridge SWIFT’s Gap with Fading Regulatory Risks

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Crypto Sensei” pieced together several developments that, when considered collectively, depict a far more permissive environment for XRP, tokenization, and bank-led crypto services than many investors may be aware.

Gottfried Leibbrandt, a former CEO of Swift, made the headline claim when he recently stated that once regulatory volatility and legal uncertainty subside, Swift could integrate “native currencies like XRP.” Without clear regulations, “the benefits do not outweigh the costs” for institutions that might otherwise use volatile cryptocurrency assets for settlement, according to Sensei, who emphasizes that the problem is not technology but rather bank risk appetite.

He saw this as structural pressure rather than a “crypto roadmap,” since ISO-native payment systems like RippleNet will be in a better position once legacy formats and paper checks are phased out.

He reiterates a point that is frequently overlooked in online discussions: payment systems, not tokens themselves, are subject to ISO compliance.
A recent clip of Fed Chair Jerome Powell declaring that US banks are “perfectly able to serve crypto customers” as long as operations are safe, sound, and compliant is heavily referenced in the video.

According to Sensei, the Fed, FDIC, and OCC replaced their earlier, more stringent joint crypto statements with principles-based guidance in 2025. Sensei contends that instead of developing intricate crypto rails internally, banks are more likely to “white-label” infrastructure from companies like Ripple, Circle, Fireblocks, or Coinbase.

He believed that a sizable portion of institutional traffic could be discreetly routed through XRP-enabled systems without ever being advertised by brands.

DeepSeek Founder Liang’s Quant Empire Soars 57% in 2025 Amid China’s Quant Revival

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, achieved returns of over 50% last year despite spending far less than competitors, boosting the company’s potential war chest. DeepSeek has already shaken up the global tech scene.

Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, which manages over 70 billion yuan ($10 billion), reported an average return of 56.6 percent across its funds in 2025. PaiPaiWang noted this made it the second-best performer among Chinese quant funds managing over 10 billion yuan. Only Ningbo Lingjun Investment Management Partnership, which led the nation’s top quants with gains of more than 70%, outperformed it.

Li stated that, assuming a 1 percent management fee and a 20 percent performance fee, the fund’s explosive growth last year could have generated over $700 million.

That is orders of magnitude more than the reported budget of less than $6 million DeepSeek needed to develop its groundbreaking AI model, while some competitors have questioned those cost claims.

PaiPaiWang reported that two products managed by Xu Jin, a co-founder of High-Flyer, increased by an average of 58.6%.

Simon Lu, the CEO, oversaw eight products with an average return of 56%. Lu also ranked last. With a Sharpe ratio of 2.8 percent as of December, it was one of the top quant funds based on risk-adjusted returns for stock strategies last year.

, High-Flyer’s main product line now consists of those funds after abandoning market-neutral strategies in 2024 to go “all-in” on long-only strategies, all aiming to outperform their underlying stock indexes. The gains exemplify China’s quant funds’ stellar year, with an average return of 30.5 percent last year.

Gold Vaults to $4,600, Silver Approaches $85 in Safe-Haven Frenzy

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Gold and silver reached all-time highs as the US Justice Department threatened the Federal Reserve with a criminal indictment, while protests in Iran bolstered the demand for a haven, reigniting concerns about its independence.

 

Silver approached $85, and the yellow metal surged toward $4,600 per ounce, following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement that the possible indictment “should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure” to influence the bank’s interest-rate decisions.

The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the Fed last year were a significant factor that weakened the dollar and bolstered gold.

In the meantime, deadly protests in Iran have made precious metals more appealing as a haven if the Islamic Republic is overthrown.

Just over a week after seizing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he was considering options regarding Iran while reiterating threats to seize Greenland and questioning the usefulness of the NATO alliance.

Precious metals are at the center of a strong upward re-rating due to a confluence of tailwinds that have increased demand.

Gold and silver have benefited from several factors, including declining US interest rates, increased geopolitical tensions, diminished confidence in the US dollar, and challenges to the Fed. Due to their belief in gold’s long-term appeal, more than a dozen money managers stated they have chosen not to remove too much money from the market.

“Geopolitics, the growth/rates debate, and now a new headline-driven reminder of an institutional risk premium are just a few of the many uncertainties markets are juggling.”