World stocks continue to serve uncertainty on a platter. Today, the movement in most markets is downward, after some recovery at the end of last week. US futures fall 0.38% and Euro Stoxx has similar movement, at -0.36%.
Inflation is the main course. The US inflation data measured by the CPI last week are still on the radar. The debate is whether the main central banks in the world are “late” in the movement to reduce stimuli, increasing the risk of a more persistent inflationary process ahead. This weighs on stocks, especially technology.
Virus phantom haunts again. It negatively surprised a series of data on Covid-19 over the weekend, with Singapore reporting the highest number of infections in months and Taiwan, which had the situation contained, reporting a jump in cases.
Bitcoin is not saved. Known for having a low correlation with the stock market, Bitcoin is also in free fall, reaching less than US$43,000 on Sunday. Tesla President Elon Musk said last week that the company will stop accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment for environmental reasons (aka the use of energy to mine the digital currency). On Sunday, the CEO and “Technoking” insinuated that the company also gave up its investments in BTC.
And Tesla remains in the spotlight. It is worth remembering that the BDR TSLA34 (receipt from Tesla) was responsible for 18.5% of the volume traded among all receipts. If among investors, Tesla is a hit, among analysts no other stock is so controversial and divisive.
I want numbers. China’s economic activity data show some deceleration in production and investment, although the pace remains robust: industrial production decelerated to 9.8% y/y in April (expected 10.0%), from 14.1% in March. Retail sales growth decelerated to 17.7% y/y in April, from 34.2% in March, below the consensus, 25.0%.
As a writer, Richard is an advocate of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in general. He writes about all things from cryptography to economics, with a focus on how it applies to cryptocurrencies. He is also passionate about writing about topics such as decentralization, open-sourced software development, and copyright law.
