Weekly news summary for April 1 to April 7
Friday, Apr. 1: Eurozone CPI Climbs to New Record High in March
Eurozone inflation soared to a new record high in March as loose fiscal and monetary policy, supply chain limits, and increasing prices in the energy sector weighed on the economy, adding pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to tighten policy earlier than expected.
The Eurozone consumer price index (CPI) climbed 7.5% on year in the previous month from 5.9% in February, its highest since the euro was created, while core prices, which do not cover volatile fuel and energy prices, were at a critical 3.0%.
Monday, Apr. 4: Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Biggest Shareholder
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk is now the biggest shareholder of Twitter Inc., after the US car giant’s boss bought a considerable stake in the social media company, surpassing co-founder Jack Dorsey and several financial institutions.
A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing showed that Musk owns 73,486,938 shares or 9.2% of Twitter, with the passive stake currently worth $3.7 billion from Friday’s $2.89 billion after the company’s stock gained 27% on Monday.
Tuesday, Apr. 5: Solana Comes in Third in Most Active Blockchains
The Solana blockchain network has claimed third place in the most active blockchain by non-fungible token (NFT) sales volume, standing behind Ronin and Ethereum.
Data from an NFT transaction tracker showed that Solana’s all-time total NFT sales were up above $1.6 billion, putting the network in third place, while Ronin remains in second place with $4 billion and Ether in the lead with $21 billion in total sales.
Wednesday, Apr. 6: US Treasury Yields Rise on Brainard’s Remarks
Bond markets surged on Wednesday after current Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, US President Joe Biden’s Fed vice chair nominee, warned of the crucial need to ease inflation through interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening.
Responding to Brainard’s remarks, the US 10-Year Treasury yields rose to a three-year high of 2.65% before retreating to 2.63%, while the five-year yield climbed around 2.79% to post its highest since December 2018.
Thursday, Apr. 7: US Dollar Firm as Fed Prepares to Ease Inflation
The US dollar traded close to a two-year high against major peers on Thursday after minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed the central bank is looking to take firm actions to ease inflation.
The US dollar index measuring the greenback’s strength against six currencies stood at $99.50, having reached its highest since May 2020 of $99.78 on Wednesday, while the euro rose from a one-month low of $1.08 to $1.09, although it remains pressured due to uncertainty over the ECB’s policy decision.
