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What Moved Global Markets
– Shares in Asia were higher on Monday, as investors reacted to Hong Kong’s district council elections. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains among major markets regionally as it jumped 1.5%.
– Trade deal: Stocks rose on Monday as the market’s rally to record highs resumed amid (still) increasing expectations.
– The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit record highs as they rose 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 140 points, or 0.5% and remained about 0.3% below its all-time high. President Donald Trump tweeted about the record, saying: “Enjoy!”
– Big deal: LVMH (pretty much the owner of everything LUXURY: LV, Fendi, Dior, Dom Perignon, Bulgari, Hublot etc.) has reached a deal to buy Tiffany & Co. at $135 a share in cash, or $16.2 billion, in a move that will give the company more access to U.S. luxury consumers.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Up 4.79% to $7.195.10
Total trading volume (24h): $32.03+ billion USD
Ethereum: Up 4.72% to $147.30
Total trading volume (24h): $10.42+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Webcoin is up 3533.85% to $0.050117
Biggest Mover 2: EveriToken is up 180.76% to $0.011409
Biggest Loser: BitCapitalVendor is down 27.98% to $0.008842
What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– All eyes on cryptomarket now. How low can you go, Bitcoin?! Markets are freezing looking at what might be another crypto winter. Bitcoin loses $3,000 in value in just a month as China accelerates a crackdown on businesses involved in cryptocurrency operations. Comparing to Monday price, however, Bitcoin is up 1%.
– It doesn’t bother Thailand, though: Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the country’s financial regulator, plans to amend cryptocurrency rules to boost the growth of digital assets. “The regulator must be flexible to apply the rules and regulations in line with the market environment,” Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, secretary-general of the SEC, told Bangkok Post on Monday, adding that Thailand aims to be “competitive” with the global market.
– Crypto is coming to travel industry: Travala, a service that allows its users to pay for hotel stays with cryptocurrency, will now let its customers reserve any hotel that is bookable through Booking.com. Travala announced in a press release on Nov. 25 that it has already integrated Booking’s accommodations to its platform. The new feature will purportedly allow users to book 90,000 different destinations using cryptocurrencies.
Other Specialties
Fintech: The central bank of France wants the eurozone to build a blockchain-based settlement system that will move euros more quickly and at less cost than with existing technologies.
Healthtech: Medopad Ltd., a U.K. artificial intelligence startup teaming with China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. on new approaches to disease, raised $25 million for clinical studies of its health technology.
Leaps by Bayer, an investment arm of Bayer AG, led the series B round, Medopad said in a statement. The London-based firm is focused on finding and using digital indicators of illness to guide treatment of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.
Al: An artificial intelligence has debated the dangers of AI – narrowly convincing audience members that the technology will do more good than harm. Project Debater, a robot developed by IBM, spoke on both sides of the argument, with two human teammates for each side helping it out. Talking in a female American voice to a crowd at the University of Cambridge Union, the AI gave each side’s opening statements, using arguments drawn from more than 1100 human submissions made ahead of time. On the proposition side, arguing that AI will bring more harm than good, Project Debater’s opening remarks were darkly ironic. “AI can cause a lot of harm,” it said. “AI will not be able to make a decision that is the morally correct one, because morality is unique to humans.”
Smart cities: Elon Musk said that Tesla received 200,000 orders for its Cybertruck, following an embarrassing debut.
NexChangeNOW Pick of the Day
According to a report with data from CFTC, some hedge funders out there appear to have made a stronger bet on the short side of the CME bitcoin futures market. http://www.nexchangenow.com/news/fintech/71680/hedge-funds-were-net-short-bitcoin-futures-coming-into-the-crash/