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Massive ship blocking the Suez Canal has been freed

  • After being stuck since Tuesday, the Ever Given is now afloat.
  • The massive cargo vessel caused a blockage in the Suez Canal, straining global trade.
  • It’s still not known when the canal will be open the hundreds of ships waiting to enter.

A massive container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has been refloated, Bloomberg News reported, citing shipping services provider Inchcape. Inchcape said in a tweet the boat is now being “secured.”

The Ever Given had been stuck sideways across Egypt’s canal since Tuesday, clogging a vital artery for the global economy and forcing multiple ships to turn around and reroute through Africa.

Tugboats are now working on straitening the vessel’s course so it can continue moving up the canal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“It is good news,” Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told The Journal. “We are not finished yet, but it has moved.”

It’s unclear how soon the canal would be opened up to the hundreds of ships that are stuck waiting for it to clear.

The 1,300 foot-long cargo ship, one of the world’s largest, became wedged in the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning. Egyptian officials initially blamed the weather, including strong winds and a dust storm. But on Saturday, officials said the logjam could be the result of “technical or human errors.”

The nearly six-day blockage forced some ships to take a costly, dangerous detour thousands of miles around the southern tip of Africa, and was reportedly costing the global economy $400 million an hour in delayed goods.

Tugboats and dredgers had been working to free the ship for days with little success.

In video shared on Twitter, boats could be heard honking after the ship was freed. Another clip appeared to show the ship moving again as the sun was rising.

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German Industrial Production Falls Unexpectedly In January

Germany’s industrial production decreased unexpectedly in January, data from Destatis revealed on Monday.

Industrial production fell 2.5 percent month-on-month in January, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent. Production had advanced 1.9 percent in December.

On a yearly basis, industrial output dropped 3.9 percent, which was bigger than December’s 1 percent decrease.

Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, production was 4.2 percent lower in January.

Excluding energy and construction, industrial output was down by 0.5 percent on month in January. Energy production was up by 0.6 percent, while construction output declined by 12.2 percent.

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Irish Construction Sector Shrinks Sharply In February

Ireland’s construction sector contracted sharply in February, survey data from IHS Markit showed on Monday.

The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 27.0 in February from 21.2 in January. A score below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.

Housing activity and commercial activity declined at slower rates compared to January, while civil engineering activity decreased sharply.

New orders continued to decline sharply in February due to Covid-19 lockdown.

Employment fell for the second straight month and input buying decreased substantially.

Suppliers’ delivery time lengthened in February due to Brexit.

Input cost grew at a sharper rate in February, with the rate of inflation the fastest in twenty-three months.

“Sentiment picked up to its highest level in twelve months as almost half of surveyed firms anticipate an expansion in activity over the year ahead, with confidence bolstered by expectations for a release of pent-up demand as headwinds from the pandemic fade,” Simon Barry, chief economist Republic of Ireland at Ulster Bank, said.

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Japan’s Leading Index Highest In 2-1/2 Years

Japan’s leading index increased to the highest level in two-and-a-half years in January, preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed on Monday.

The leading index, which measures the future economic activity, grew to 99.1 in January from 97.7 in December.

The latest reading was the highest since September 2018, when it was 99.2.

The coincident index decreased to 91.7 in January from 88.2 in the previous month. This was the highest reading since February last year.

The lagging index rose to 91.9 in January from 90.8 in the prior month. This was the highest reading since July last year.

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Today’s Tech Headlines

1. A Black AWS manager is suing Amazon. Her lawsuit alleges Amazon routinely pays and promotes Black employees less and accuses a former Amazon public-policy director of sexual harassment and assault.

2. Joe Biden supported Alabama workers in an Amazon union vote. Biden also called for no “anti-union propaganda.” More on what the president said about the historic effort. 

3. DraftKings will soon make a huge acquisition, per insiders. The sports-betting industry is abuzz with chatter that DraftKings is in M&A talks with potential targets.

4. Klarna is now Europe’s most valuable private startup. The Swedish “buy now, pay later” company tripled its valuation in less than six months, bringing its worth to $31 billion. 

5. Amazon will soon open the UK’s first checkout-free grocery store. The Mirror reported that Amazon Go is set to open this week in West London.

6. Grimes made $5.8 million by selling crypto-based artwork – in 20 minutes. The singer’s digital art collection marks the latest non-fungible token, or NFT, that’s taken off.

7. Lime’s new e-bikes are coming. The mobility startup announced it will be investing $50 million to bring electric bicycles to 25 cities across the globe by this summer. More details on the expansion.

8. Reddit will continue hosting porn. CEO Steve Huffman said he had no plans to ban pornography on the social media site. Watch Huffman’s explanation here.

9. 67 Black women CEOs and executives discuss their time in corporate America. Execs from companies like Amazon, Google and Salesforce share career advice –  and reveal how they “made it” in white, male-dominated industries.

10. The US government wants to turn VCs into informants who will snitch on China. The Committee on Foreign Investment is encouraging investors and startup founders to blow the whistle on suspicious investments into American tech firms.

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German Retail Sales Fall More Than Expected

Germany’s retail sales decreased for a second straight month and at a faster than expected pace in January, preliminary figures from Destatis showed Tuesday.

Retail sales fell 4.5 percent month-on-month, which was worse than the 0.3 percent decline economists had expected. In December, sales decreased 9.1 percent.

Sales dropped 8.7 percent year-on-year, while economists had forecast a 1.3 percent gain. In December, sales grew 2.8 percent.

The latest annual decline was the first since April last year, when sales fell 5.6 percent.

These results can be explained by the second COVID-19 lockdown, which led to a partial retail closure starting on December 16, 2020, Destatis said.

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Ether futures product overview

Ether futures (ticker symbol: ETH) from CME Group are cash-settled contracts based on the CME C-F Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Launched in 2018, ETHUSD_RR is a daily reference rate that aggregates Ether US dollar transactions on the constituent Ether spot exchanges during a one-hour calculation window into the US dollar price of one ether as of 4 p.m. GMT/BST.   

In order to determine the Ether Dollar Reference Price, the one-hour calculation window is partitioned into 12 five-minute intervals, where the volume-weighted median is calculated for each five-minute partition, and then, all twelve medians are equal-weight averaged to one price that becomes the ETHUSD_RR for the day.

Contract specifications

Each futures contract has a value of 50 ether and is quoted in US dollars per one ether. For example, if the CME CF Ether Dollar Reference Rate is $400, one Ether futures contract will have a notional value of $20,000 US dollars. 

Ether futures will tick in increments of one-quarter index point, meaning a one-tick move of ETH futures is equal to $12.50.

The tick size for spread trades will be $0.05 per index point per ether or $2.50 per contract. The Ether futures contract trades on CME Globex from Sunday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 4 p.m. Central Time (CT). Additionally, the contracts are block trade eligible with a minimum size of five contracts. 

Ether futures are also eligible for exchange for physical (EFP) transactions. EFPs are privately negotiated trades between two counterparties allowing them to simultaneously transfer a futures position for an equivalent spot market position or vice versa. In this case, a market participant may exchange a position in physical ether for an equivalent position in CME Group Ether futures and vice versa.

ETH futures expire on the last Friday of the contract month and are listed on the nearest six consecutive monthly contracts, inclusive of the nearest two December contracts.

An example

For example, assume it’s January and the six consecutive contract months are January, February, March, April, May, and June. In addition, that year’s December contract plus next year’s December contract will also be listed.

As one contract expires, the next contract to complete the six-month lineup is added. 

When the December contract expires, the June contract becomes active, in addition to the December contract for the next year. So, at any time, there are six consecutive monthly contracts and only two December contracts listed. This process continues throughout each year.

Ether futures are joining the expanding suite of cryptocurrency products from CME Group – providing an additional tool for market participants to hedge their digital asset risk.

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Defining Ether and Ethereum

Created in 2015, Ether is known as the fuel for operating the Ethereum platform.  Ether, like other digital currencies, can be used to pay for goods and services. But it is also used to support the development of applications on the Ethereum network.

Oftentimes, the word Ethereum is used to represent both the network as well as Ether.

To better understand the uses of Ether, let’s first look at the Ethereum platform.

Ethereum

Ethereum is an open-ended, decentralized, blockchain-based, public software platform that facilitates peer-to-peer contracts, known as Smart Contracts, as well as Decentralized Applications, known as DApps.

Smart contracts allow users to exchange value without requiring an intermediary.  Smart contracts are agreements with defined terms and protocols in place to enforce them.

But unlike traditional contracts, written in human languages and enforced by courts of law, smart contracts are written in code that a computer can execute, which eliminates ambiguity.

The Ethereum network acts as a single decentralized computer that runs the smart contract code. This means that all computers participating in the Ethereum network will come to consensus on the outcome of each smart contract.

Traditional software applications often rely on central authorities to store data and perform operations on that data. This requires trust in the central authority.

DApps can make use of smart contracts on the Ethereum network to achieve decentralization. Smart contracts can store data. The Ethereum network enforces that all operations on the data happen according to the smart contract code. In other words, the data maintains its integrity without a central trusted party.

Ether

In order to support the Ethereum network, developers need the cryptocurrency, Ether, to create and run applications. Ether is used to pay for transaction fees and computational services. 

Users can send Ether to other users, and developers can write smart contracts that receive, hold, and send Ether.

Ether comes into existence by the validation of transactions on the Ethereum platform, through a process called mining.  Those performing this validation are referred to as “miners”.

When miners successfully verify a group of transactions, they are awarded Ether.  Miners follow a set of cryptographic rules which keep the network stable, safe and secure. 

Ether transactions are recorded and verified on a digital public ledger called blockchain. 

HOW DO YOU OBTAIN ETHER?

There are multiple ways for an individual to obtain Ether.

  • It can be purchased on an exchange using a fiat currency under the symbol ETH.
  • It can be exchanged for Bitcoin on exchanges that offer a BTC-ETH pair.
  • It can be transferred to you from another person or entity.
  • It can be earned as a miner, through joining a mining pool or by purchasing a cloud mining contract

ETHEREUM WALLETS

Before taking possession of Ether, an individual must have an Ethereum wallet. 

Secure Ethereum wallets can be downloaded and set up onto a computer, smartphone or other mobile device. 

Each Ethereum wallet stores an individual’s private key which allows the wallet owner to sign transactions that send Ether to other parties.

WHY WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN OWNING ETHER?

As previously mentioned, Ether is needed by developers to create Smart Contracts and DApps on the Ethereum network.

Additionally, Ether can be used as an investment whose value can go up or down.  It can be owned or used as a tradable instrument.

Ether is a critical component to keeping the Ethereum platform growing and evolving in the digital asset environment.

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Asian Markets Slip As Bond Yields Rise

Asian stock markets are mixed on Wednesday following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street. There are also continuing concerns over an uptick in bond yields and worries over higher inflation affecting valuations. Asian stocks ended mixed on Tuesday.

The Australian stock market is declining following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street. Worries over higher inflation affecting valuations also weighed on the market.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 60.80 points or 0.89 percent to 6,778.40 and the broader All Ordinaries Index is lower by 60.20 points or 0.85 percent to 7,050.60. In the tech space, Appen is falling almost 2 percent, Nanosonics is down nearly 4 percent, Afterpay is lower by more than 7 percent and WiseTech Global is losing more than 3 percent.

Gold miners are higher as gold prices are firmer, with Evolution Mining adding more than 1 percent and Newcrest Mining gaining more than 4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major miners are notably higher, with BHP Group rising more than 3 percent, Fortescue Metals higher by 0.4 percent and Rio Tinto advancing nearly 2 percent.


Oil stocks are also higher, with Oil Search gaining more than 6 percent, while Woodside Petroleum and Santos are gaining nearly 6 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are advancing more than 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining nearly 2 percent.

Shares of supermarket retailer Woolworths are up more than a percent after it reported a 28 percent jump in net profit after tax for the first half of 2021 to A$1.14 billion from last year. Total revenue grew over 10 per cent to $38.85 billion. It also declared a 15.2 percent higher interim dividend of 53 cents per share.

In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that the total value of construction work done in Australia was unexpectedly down a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2020, coming in at A$51.171 billion. That missed expectations for a growth of 1.0 percent following the 2.6 percent decline in the previous three months.

Additionally, the seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter 2020 and maintained the historically low annual growth rate of 1.4 per cent for a second quarter compared with market forecasts of 1.1 percent annually, according to figures released by the ABS. The latest reading remained the weakest growth on record.


The Japanese stock market is lower on Wednesday with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling below the 30,000 level as gains in real estate stocks was offset by losses in technology stocks. However, optimism on economic recovery after the pandemic prompted fresh buying in value and cyclical stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is declining 232.21 points or 0.77 percent to 29,923.82, after touching a low of 29,846.17 in early trades.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining more than 2 percent while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent, while Toyota is down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is lower by more than 2 percent and Advantest is down nearly 3 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding 1.2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining 1.4 percent.

Among major exporters, Panasonic is declining almost 1 percent, Sony is losing nearly 3 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent, while Canon is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Yokohama Rubber is gaining almost 9 percent, Pacific Metals is adding nearly 8 percent, Sumitomo Metal Mining is up over 7 percent and Shinsei Bank is gaining 6 percent, while Mitsui Mining and Smelting, Fujikura, ANA Holdings, Mitsui OSKLines and DOWA are rising more than 5 percent each.


Conversely, Olympus is losing nearly 5 percent, while Konica Minolta and Terumo are lower by more than 4 percent each and Daikin Industries in down nearly 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 105 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is declining more than 1 percent, while China, Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan are also lower. Singapore is rising more than 1 percent, while Malaysia and Indonesia are also higher. On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial recovery over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their early lows, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching positive territory. The Dow plunged by more than 360 points in early trading but ended the day up 15.66 points or 0.1 percent at 31,537.35. The S&P 500 also inched up 4.87 points or 0.1 percent to 3,881.37 after tumbling by as much as 71 points. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the session down 67.85 points or 0.5 percent at 13,465.20 but was well off the nearly one-month intraday low set in early trading.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both inched up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices ended slightly lower on Tuesday after surging in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.03 at $61.67 a barrel.

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Danish Retail Sales Decline At Softer Pace

Denmark retail sales declined for the third month in a row in January, albeit at a softer pace, figures from the Statistics Denmark showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales declined a seasonally adjusted 5.0 percent month-on-month in January, following a 8.3 percent decrease in December.

Sales of clothing and other goods decreased 43.3 percent monthly in January and those of other consumables decreased 7.1 percent.

Meanwhile, sales of food and grocery grew 2.8 percent.

On an annual basis, retail sales dropped 7.6 percent in January, after a 1.3 percent gain in the previous month.