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What Moved Global Markets
Coronavirus update:
– Global cases: More than 1.8 million
– Global deaths: At least 113,900
- Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 431, down from 619 the day before, and the number of new cases slowed to 4,092 from a previous 4,694. The tally of deaths was the lowest daily rise since March 19.
- Death toll in Canada rose by more than 12% to 674 in a day. In England it rose by 657 to 9,594.
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said 758 people died from the coronavirus in New York during the last 24 hours. The state has had more than 750 deaths each day for the last several days. A total of 9,385 people have died in the state as of Saturday.
- Russia on Sunday reported 2,186 new coronavirus cases, the largest daily increase since the start of the outbreak, as authorities announced restrictions on Easter services to contain the spread of the disease.
- OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations agreed on Sunday to cut output by a record amount, representing around 10% of global supply, to support oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic. OPEC+ agreed to reduce output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May-June. In the biggest oil output cut ever, the countries will keep gradually decreasing curbs on production in place for two years until April 2022.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Down 2.51% to $6,686.93
Total trading volume (24h): $38.13+ billion USD
Ethereum: Down 2.75% to $153.76
Total trading volume (24h): $16.12+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: BitBall (BTB) is up 77.21% to $0.002307
Biggest Mover 2: Innovative Bioresearch Coin (INNBC) is up 44.98% to $1.31e-7
Biggest Loser: Polkadot [IOU] (DOT) is down 33.48% to $84.25
What Moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
- Bitcoin is very green – again. The sentiment of top traders on the short-term trend of the Bitcoin price remains mixed after BTC surged by more than five percent within less than six hours from $6,840 to $7,200. Some prominent traders believe that the Bitcoin price could range between $7,700 and $7,300, grinding upwards to the low-$8,000 region. Others foresee a steep rejection in the $7,700 to $7,900 range, which has been a historically strong area of resistance.
- Bitcoin futures volume on two regulated platforms – CME Group and Bakkt – fell sharply last month. CME’s daily average volume dropped by over 50% to $242 million in March, as compared to $493 million in February. Bakkt’s daily average volume, on the other hand, fell by 38.7% in March from $26.94 million to $16.51 million in February.
- Block.one, the publisher of the EOS blockchain protocol, plans to begin staking and voting on EOS initiatives in May. Announcing the news recently, the company said that its participation is to “ensure maximum network security and constructive participation.” The voting will begin in May, to help drive alignment and progress among the EOS community and lay the framework for how Block.one engages with many public blockchains in the future.
Other Specialties
Fintech: Fintech companies PayPal and Intuit were approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to distribute funds as part of the U.S. agency’s emergency lending program, enacted amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. PayPal and Intuit released statements on April 10, declaring their participation after the SBA’s approval, according to coverage by CNBC. The SBA plans administer $350 billion in emergency loans. The SBA program was part of a $2 trillion stimulus bill signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on March 27.
Healthtech: Apple and Google are teaming up to develop a technology solution for contact tracing the spread of COVID-19 infections. The first stage will see the two firms “release APIs that enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities. These official apps will be available for users to download via their respective app stores.” After that, “Apple and Google will work to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms.” The timeline isn’t precisely clear at this moment, with the firms saying that this process will take place “in the coming months.”
AI: Huawei Malaysia has joined hands with the Malaysia Ministry of Health to contribute Huawei Cloud AI-assisted Diagnosis solution to Sungai Buloh Hospital to empower local medical personnel with AI capabilities by providing an AI solution for CT image analysis of possible COVID-19 patients. The Huawei Cloud AI-assisted quantitative medical image analysis system, which was used to help handle the COVID-19 situation around the world, can analyze hundreds of CT images in seconds, precisely locating lesions, and doctors can now provide diagnosis results in just one minute.
Smart cities: the City of Los Angeles is providing pre-paid debit cards to get financial assistance to the most in-need residents faster. The programme was deployed with Accelerator for America and Mastercard’s City Possible, and the partners say the approach could be quickly scaled to other cities.
The Angeleno Campaign is aiming to raise $15 million in private donations, through the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. The funds are being distributed via no-fee, pre-paid debit cards, enabled by City Possible, to citizens who are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19-related job losses. The pre-paid debit cards can be used immediately in shops as well as online to pay bills. Each card will be loaded with between $750 and $1,500.
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