Bitcoin Moves $1,400 Up, $1,400 Down, Speculators Get Woozy
Is Bitcoin (BTC-USD) popping again? In both directions? Yup. The digital currency exploded over $1,000 per coin yesterday reaching a high of $13,775 before dropping over $1,400 in the space of about two hours, spurring murmurings of a second echo-bubble bursting in the cryptocurrency sector. Bitcoin trading as a percentage of total cryptocurrency trading volume has increased significantly since April in the meantime, climbing back up above the 60% mark for the first time ever since breaking below it during the introduction of Bitcoin Cash (BCH-USD) and other popular coins. During the previous Bitcoin top in December 2017, BTC trading dominance reached 60% but didn’t cross it. We are now at 62.8%. The runner up is Ethereum (ETH-USD) at just below 10%, and Ripple (XRP-USD) at 5.66% total trading volume. The next resistance zone for Bitcoin is at around $17,560, though we are still far away from there. It could take hours.
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Next Target In Trade Wars: India
It’s the most populous nation in the world, and it’s making US President Donald Trump angry. India last year raised tariffs to 120% on a whole bunch of US items after the US withdrew preferential trade status from India as a third world nation that could really use some tax relief. “I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the tariffs even further,” Trump tweeted, signaling more pain for both the US and India is in the works. The trade privileges that India enjoyed were under the Generalized System of Preferences that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion. But since India kept its tariffs on the US up, which primarily hurts Indians rather than Americans, Trump thought this was unfair and now he’s raising a row. Indian stocks (BATS:INDA) could take a beating over this.
Hong Kong Back To the Streets
Hong Kongers are going back to the streets coinciding with the big G20 meeting this weekend, and they want Hong Kong on the agenda. Beijing isn’t too excited about this, and doesn’t want anyone to talk about it, because it makes them look bad, because it is bad. While the extradition bill that Beijing-sponsored Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has championed (probably because her bosses on Beijing would probably do something bad to her if she didn’t) was suspended, it was never withdrawn, which means that Lam is just waiting for the opportunity to reintroduce it and pass it through while the protesters are not looking. The bill would allow Beijing to extradite pretty much anyone it wants to on the basis that Xi Jinping feels like it. “We know that the G20 is coming. We want to grasp this opportunity to voice for ourselves,” said Jack Cool Tsang, a protester. How can anyone disagree with a guy named Jack Cool? It’s unthinkable. Meanwhile, Hong Kong stocks are in a holding pattern, near all time highs but waiting to see what happens next. (NYSEARCA:EWH)
Target, eBay To Compete With Amazon Prime Day
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is just under 3 weeks away, set to hit the internet on July 15 when everyone is supposed to log on to Amazon at once, join prime, and shop like there is no recession around the corner. Target (NYSE:TGT) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) are now stepping up to the plate in a bid to compete, daring Amazon.com to crash like it did last year on Prime Day so that it can offer even more sales. They are trying to one-up Amazon by not requiring any membership in order to enjoy the discounts. Amazon requires that people who want the deals sign up for a $119 a year Prime membership.
Boeing 737 Has A New Problem, May Not Return to Service Until July or Later
Last month, officials at the Federal Aviation Administration had been saying that the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX series could return to service around late June, which is now, but now they have discovered a new flaw in the plane which they are not elaborating on, but cautioning that at this point, the soonest that the plane could do test flights for certification would be July 8th. Two people involved in the testing though gave a hint as to what is going on. During a simulator test last week running scenarios trying intentionally activate the safety system that pulled the nose down causing two crashes, it took too long to recover, Reuters was told. At this point it isn’t known whether whatever the problem was can be fixed with further software tweaks, or if the problem is in the hardware controlling the system, which would require new hardware be built, which would take a while. Boeing shares slipped late yesterday when news came out, but still finished the day positive.