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What Moved Global Markets
Coronavirus update:
– Global cases: More than 3.1 million (US cases topped 1 million)
– Global deaths: At least 215,000
- In Italy, the total of people infected since the start of the outbreak topped 200,000. The daily tally of new infections stood at 2,091, higher than the 1,739 recorded on Monday.
- Turkey’s government aims to begin reopening the economy in late May and will aim to avoid a second wave of infections.
- Pope Francis waded into the church-state debate about virus-imposed lockdowns of religious services, calling Tuesday for “prudence and obedience” to government protocols to prevent infections from surging again.
- The International Monetary Fund said that its executive board on Tuesday approved $3.4 bln in emergency financial assistance for Nigeria to support the oil exporter’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Small Business Administration reported it had approved over $52 billion in small business relief loans.
- Stocks reversed early gains to trade lower as a decline in tech shares offset some of the enthusiasm around the prospect of states reopening the U.S. economy.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down just 20 points, or 0.1%, after rallying 378 points to start the session. The 30-stock average was briefly down 100 points. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.1%.
- U.S. crude prices settled lower on Tuesday, falling about 3%.
- Alphabet shares rose 4% in extended trading on Tuesday after the company reported earnings for the first quarter, during which the coronavirus spread globally. The company put cost-cutting measures in place during the quarter. Revenue growth slowed.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Up 0.60% to $7,811.06
Total trading volume (24h): $32.88+ billion USD
Ethereum: Up 2.02% to $199.48
Total trading volume (24h): $18.19+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Kapp Network (KAPP) is up 2,523.00% to $0.000005
Biggest Mover 2: SunContract (SNC) is up 87.20% to $0.038492
Biggest Loser: Gleec (GLEEC) is down 73.47% to $0.377475
What Moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
- British payments start-up Checkout.com has joined the Libra Association. Checkout.com is the first payment processor to join the initiative since U.S. giants Visa, Mastercard and Stripe all pulled out over regulatory concerns in October. In recent weeks, other firms have said they will back Libra, including e-commerce giant Shopify, non-profit organization Heifer International and cryptocurrency brokerage Tagomi.
- SenseTime, the world’s most-valued artificial intelligence (AI) startup with over $7.5 billion valuation, has signed a cooperation agreement with China’s digital currency research institute — a unit of the country’s central bank that is overseeing the development of digital yuan. Announcing the news on Monday, Hong Kong-based SenseTime said the agreement is aimed at accelerating the innovation and implementation of AI technology in China’s financial industry.
Other Specialties
Fintech: VC firm Partech has raised a new fund focused on seed investments. Named Partech Entrepreneur III, it is the third seed fund from the VC firm. The firm is looking for companies at the very early stage, from pre-seed to pre-Series A. Partech can invest as little as a few hundred thousand dollars and up to several million dollars depending on the stage of the startup. If the startup is doing well, Partech wants to be able to invest again in follow-on Series A and B rounds. Partech is focused on six verticals in particular — health, work, commerce, finance, mobility and computing. While it is quite broad, the firm now has a team of 10 investors dedicated to the seed funds. They’re based in Paris, San Francisco and Berlin.
Healthtech: Digital health startup 100Plus. recently launched a remote patient monitoring platform to help doctors collect data like weight, blood pressure or glucose levels, on older patients with chronic ailments like high blood pressure and diabetes. It can drastically reduce hospitalisations. When something is amiss, an alert is sent to a doctor or nurse. 100Plus takes all the financial risks. Doctors or patients don’t even pay for the wearable devices such as a digital scale, blood pressure cuff, glucose monitor and emergency watch.
Smart cities: The City of Las Vegas has awarded a $1.5m tender to Australian artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider SenSen Networks to provide a range of intelligent transportation and smart city solutions. In a statement, SenSen said its technology will be used to assist the city of Las Vegas in keeping roads safe and congestion-free by automating the enforcement of hundreds of bylaws associated with regulating traffic and parking on city streets.
AI: UK spies will need to use artificial intelligence (AI) to counter a range of threats, an intelligence report says. Adversaries are likely to use the technology for attacks in cyberspace and on the political system, and AI will be needed to detect and stop them. However, AI is unlikely to predict who might be about to be involved in serious crimes, such as terrorism – and will not replace human judgement, it says. The report is based on unprecedented access to British intelligence.
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank also argues that the use of AI could give rise to new privacy and human-rights considerations, which will require new guidance.
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