🔐🪙 Bitcoin ETF Details + New Discord!
Happy Wednesday all,
I have a big announcement! Our Discord Community is now OPEN. It’s a completely free community where you can discuss financial news, investing, budgeting, and personal finance. There’s even a channel where you can ask me any question, and I will answer it when I can. I’m personally going to be very active in this community, so I hope to see you inside and get to know you.
👾 Join Here: https://discord.gg/udDDPRrd74 👾
Today’s the day that the Bitcoin ETF might get approved, so we’re keeping an eye on that, and this week’s edition is a great one!
- Humphrey, Rickie & Tim
👀 Eye-Catching Headlines
🏦 U.S. banks' profits to shrink as they brace for souring loans (Reuters)
🤝 Congressional negotiators reach agreement on $1.6T government spending level for 2024 (WSJ)
🗳️ How an election-packed 2024 could swing world markets (Reuters)
🛬 Chastened economists hopeful for U.S. soft landing, Fed rate cuts (Bloomberg)
🎬 Amazon is laying off hundreds in Prime Video, studios in latest cuts (Bloomberg)
📈 Wall St. climbs on megacap boost; inflation and earnings in focus (Reuters)
🇨🇳 Xi’s solution for China’s economy risks triggering new trade war (Bloomberg)
🏌️♂️ Tiger Woods and Nike split up after 27 years (WSJ)
🚒 How banks are gaming a Fed rescue program (WSJ)
🚢 Houthi militias launch biggest attack to date on merchant vessels in Red Sea (CNBC)
The Weekly Brief
1. Bitcoin ETF Hopefuls Still Expect SEC Approval Despite Social Media Hack (Reuters)
The SEC will decide today (Wednesday) whether to approve an application from Ark Investments and 21Shares to launch a spot bitcoin ETF.
The products would be game-changing for bitcoin and would allow institutional and retail investors exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency without directly holding it.
On Tuesday, the SEC’s X (Twitter) account was compromised, and a fake tweet was posted claiming that the agency had approved a spot Bitcoin ETF.
X’s Safety Team posted that an “unidentified” individual had compromised the SEC’s account by gaining control of a phone number associated with the account. The SEC account did not have two-factor authentication enabled…
A dozen other ETFs are also awaiting approval, including from BlackRock, Fidelity, and VanEck.
Below are reported expense ratios for the ETFs awaiting approval.
2. Job Gains Picked Up In December, Capping Year of Healthy Hiring (WSJ)
The U.S. economy added 216k jobs last month - larger than November’s gain of 173k and better than forecasters were expecting.
Wages rose a healthy 4.1% last month from a year earlier, and the unemployment rate in December held steady at 3.7%
Markets responded positively following the report, up slightly.
Fed officials signaled they were comfortable maintaining their benchmark interest rate as they await more evidence that inflation is falling back to the 2% target.
The latest jobs report suggests the labor market is no longer at risk of overheating but does not give any cause for the Fed to move up the timeline for cutting rates.
3. Nvidia Rallies to Record High as Chipmaker Announces AI-related Components (Reuters)
Shares of Nvidia surged to record levels after the company unveiled new desktop graphics processors taking advantage of AI.
The semiconductor company announced the GeForce RTX 40 SUPER series, aimed primarily at videogame enthusiasts.
The stock climbed to close at $522.53, its highest close ever.
In the latest semiconductor news, Intel said it would launch automotive versions of its newest AI-enabled chips against Qualcomm and Nvidia.
In a market dominated recently by Nvidia and Qualcomm, Intel is looking to improve its offering to supply chips for infotainment systems.