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What Moved Global Markets
Coronavirus update:
– Global cases: More than 4.073 million
– Global deaths: At least 281,000
- South Korea warned of a second wave of the new coronavirus on Sunday as infections rebounded to a one-month high, just as the authorities were starting to ease some pandemic restrictions.
- Spain’s daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to its second-lowest since mid-March on Saturday, and half the country prepared to move to the next phase of an exit from one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.
- The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Australia’s most populous states held back from relaxing coronavirus restrictions on Saturday although other states began allowing small gatherings and were preparing to open restaurants and shops.
- Major U.S. stock indexes jumped on Friday and logged solid gains for the week after data on historic job losses – the U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April. All 11 S&P 500 sectors were positive.
- Oil prices rose 5% on Friday and were on course for a second consecutive week of gains.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Up 0.81% to $8,755.69
Total trading volume (24h): $52.52+ billion USD
Ethereum: Up 0.78% to $190.53
Total trading volume (24h): $21.85+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Harmony (ONE) is up 124.39% to $0.005732
Biggest Mover 2: Sparkle (SPRKL) is up 84.94% to $0.089616
Biggest Loser: NOIZ (NOIZ) is down 76.57% to $0.029587
What Moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
- Bitcoin fell from $9,500 to $8,100 on Saturday, posting a 14.6% loss in just 10 short minutes. The price has since recovered slightly to nearly $8,600.
- Data from traffic tracking platform SimilarWeb indicates that the number of visits to crypto exchanges fell in April compared to March – there was a month-over-month decrease of 10.2%.
- Open interest for CME bitcoin futures made a new all-time high of just under $500 million on Friday. CME’s bitcoin futures market is growing faster than nearly every other bitcoin futures market on a percentage and real growth basis.
Other Specialties
Fintech: Swiss bank UBS aims to create a digital banking platform that could slash costs and spur growth, but its plan hinges on securing a licence in mainland China to kick-start the project. It sees mainland China’s digital bank rules in place by June or July, and is targeting 200,000 wealthy clients within two years after securing a digital bank licence.
Healthtech: The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to launch an app this month to enable people in under-resourced countries to assess whether they may have the novel coronavirus, and is considering a Bluetooth-based contact tracing feature too. The app will ask people about their symptoms and offer guidance on whether they may have COVID-19.
Smart cities: London will transform its streets to prepare for a possible 10-fold increase in cycling and walking. This will include: the rapid construction of a strategic cycling network, wider footways on high streets, reducing traffic on residential streets, creating low-traffic neighbourhoods right across London, and more.
AI: Controversial facial recognition provider Clearview AI says it will no longer sell its app to private companies and non-law enforcement entities, according to a legal filing first reported on Thursday by BuzzFeed News. It will also be terminating all contracts, regardless of whether the contracts are for law enforcement purposes or not, in the state of Illinois, where the company was sued for violating privacy laws.
A security lapse at controversial facial recognition startup Clearview AI meant that its source code, some of its secret keys and cloud storage credentials, and even copies of its apps were publicly accessible. Clearview has received multiple cease-and-desist orders from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other companies over its practices, but it’s not clear if the company has deleted any of the photos it’s used to build its database as directed by those cease-and-desist orders. In addition to the lawsuit in Illinois, Clearview is also facing legal action from California, New York, and Vermont.
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