BTC: $41,402 (+0.76%) YTD (-1.21%)
ETH: $2,483 (+1.22%) YTD (+8.60%)
BNB: $314 (+0.85%) YTD (-1.08%)
*Crypto numbers as of 8:00 pm EST on January 18th
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended three key execution plans to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval on Jan. 10.
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan audit institution of the U.S. federal government within the legislative branch that offers auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the U.S. Congress.
Following the assessment, the GAO made three recommendations:
The SEC chief should ensure that the chief human capital officer prepares a new workforce planning strategy aligned with the agency’s 2022–2026 strategic and performance plans.
The SEC chief should ensure the FinHub director documents the policies and procedures supporting its internal controls.
The chair of the SEC should ensure that the FinHub director develops performance goals and measures that are objective, measurable and targeted.
TrueUSD (TUSD), a stablecoin associated with Tron founder Justin Sun, has deployed daily attestation services from an accounting firm as it struggles to recover its dollar peg.
On Jan. 15, the TUSD stablecoin started to lose its dollar peg, dropping to $0.984 at 11:15 pm UTC. The depeg came as traders sold over $339 million in TUSD on the Binance exchange in 24 hours. This led to a total net outflow of $42.3 million from the exchange.
In a Jan. 18 X post, TrueUSD blamed the de-pegging event on "community mining activities associated with Binance Launchpool," which it said led to short-term arbitrage opportunities for traders.
Following the depeg event, the TrueUSD team announced that it had upgraded its fiat reserve audit system. The company employed the services of the accounting firm Moore Hong Kong to provide daily attestations of the stablecoin’s fiat reserves in addition to its current provider, The Network Firm.
With the new system, TrueUSD said that the report will include details on the reserve funds held by its financial partners. MooreHK executive Michelle Chu said that they will be collaborating with The Network Firm to allow TUSD users to monitor its reserves.
Despite its efforts to deploy a new system for attesting its fiat reserves, the stablecoin’s price continued to drop. On Jan. 18, TUSD’s price went down to as low as $0.97, according to coin information tracker CoinMarketCap.
At the time of publication, TUSD’s price hovers at $0.99 on CoinMarketCap and Binance.
DOW: 37,468 (+0.54%)
S&P: 4,780 (+0.88%)
NASDAQ: 15,055 (+1.35%)
*Stock numbers as of market close on January 18th
Morgan Stanley on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter revenue that surpassed expectations, boosted by the strength in investment banking.
Here’s how the bank did compared with Wall Street expectations:
Earnings per share: 85 cents, may not compare with $1.01 expected, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
Revenue: $12.90 billion vs. $12.75 billion, expected, according to LSEG.
Shares of Morgan Stanley initially climbed in premarket trading following the results, but the stock closed Tuesday’s session 4.2% lower.
Morgan Stanley said its revenue from investment banking rose 5% from a year ago on the back of a 25% increase in fixed income underwriting revenue amid higher investment-grade issuances.
Net income came to $1.52 billion, or 85 cents per share, down more than 30% from $2.24 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year ago.
The bank’s results were hit by two one-time regulatory charges, however. There was a $286 million charge related to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. special assessment and a $249 million legal charge to settle a criminal investigation and a related Securities and Exchange Commission probe of the unauthorized disclosure of block trades.
Revenue of $12.9 billion topped analysts’ estimates, and rose from $12.75 billion a year ago.
Wealth management delivered fourth-quarter net revenue of $6.65 billion, slightly higher than the $6.63 billion from the same quarter a year ago. Revenue from investment management was $1.46 billion for the quarter, little changed from last year.
GOLD: $2,033 (+0.60%)
AVG GAS: $3.088
WTI CRUDE OIL: $74.01 (-0.09%)
*Economy numbers as of January 18th
Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 187,000 for the week ended Jan. 13, the lowest level since Sept. 24, 2022, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The total marked a 16,000 decline from the previous week and came in below the Dow Jones estimate of 208,000.
Along with the drop in weekly claims came an unexpected decline of 26,000 in continuing claims, which run a week behind. The total for continuing claims hit 1.806 million, below the FactSet estimate for 1.83 million.
In other economic news Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed reported that its manufacturing index registered a reading of -10.6 for January, representing the difference between companies reporting growth against contraction. While the number marked an increase from the -12.8 posted in December, it was still below the Dow Jones estimate of -7.
The Philadelphia Fed gauge showed a decline in unfilled orders, delivery times and inventories. The employment index improved somewhat but was still negative at -1.8 while the prices paid and received measures both eased from December.
15-year: 6.17%
30-year: 6.89%
*Mortage rates via Mortgage News Daily
The average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage fell to 6.60% as of Thursday from 6.66% the week prior, Freddie Mac said in its weekly report on home loan borrowing costs.
Mortgage rates began easing from two-decade highs during the fourth quarter after the Federal Reserve left its policy benchmark unchanged for three consecutive meetings. The Fed's pivot away from rate hikes stoked a rally in the bond market, driving yields on mortgage-backed securities down.
High interest rates discouraged homeowners from selling last year, shortening inventory and pricing out prospective buyers. Buyers may be leaving the sidelines as rates ease, with mortgage applications increasing 10% for the week ended Jan. 12, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
Google on Wednesday rolled out an AI-powered feature in the United States that will allow users to search with an image and text simultaneously using their mobile phones.
Users of smartphones such as Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and the new Samsung Galaxy S24 series would be able to use multisearch with gestures without switching apps from Jan. 31, the Alphabet-owned company said at the Samsung Electronics Unpacked event.
The company said the multisearch feature can be used with its lens camera icon in the Google app for Android & iOS.
#1. Macy’s (M -1%) on the news that it plans to lay off 3.5% of its workforce and close five stores this year as the company looks to cut costs and reorganize its corporate structure.
#2. iRobot (IRBT -38%) after The WSJ reported the European Commission intends to block Amazon.com’s acquisition of the company.
#3. Wendy’s (WEN +1.30%) after it named Kirk Tanner, who most recently served as CEO of North American beverages at PepsiCo, as president and chief executive of the company.
#4. Texas Instruments (TXN +1.90%) after UBS upgraded the stock to Buy from Neu