Weekly news summary for December 3 to December 9
Friday, Dec. 3: Bitcoin Drops 20% on Wall Street Sell-off
Bitcoin prices were down as much as 20% overnight on Friday, hitting a low close to $43,000, as stocks in Wall Street retreated and investors sought safe-haven in US Treasuries, triggering a drop in the 10-year yield.
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin’s decline, with the Ether falling over 16% on Friday morning, while Solana and Cardano lost 13% and 19% respectively on the week.
Monday, Dec. 6: SoftBank Shares Drop on Portfolio Uncertainties
Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. lost over 8% on Monday, as uncertainties around its portfolio companies, including Didi Chuxing, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and Arm Ltd., weighed on each of their market value.
The Japanese tech conglomerate’s stock slipped to ¥5,103 in Tokyo and as low as ¥5,062 at one point, marking its lowest level since June 2020.
Tuesday, Dec. 7: Intel to Take Mobileye Public in the US Next Year
Intel Corp. looks to take its autonomous driving unit Mobileye public in the US next year, a move which could value the Israeli company at over $50 billion, a source with knowledge of the matter stated on Monday.
The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker stated that it has no plans to hand over or spin off its majority ownership interest in Mobileye, while a final decision on the potential listing has yet to be made and is subject to market conditions.
Wednesday, Dec. 8: British Pound Hits Fresh Low on New COVID Measures
The British pound posted a new one-year low against the US dollar on Wednesday as the possibility of new COVID-19 driven restrictions threatened the outlook for the UK economy and the Bank of England’s (BoE) rate hike later this month.
The sterling shed 0.5% to 1.317 against the greenback after news of Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to implement Plan B measures, which includes vaccine passports and work from home orders, to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.
Thursday, Dec. 9: Apple Nears $3T Milestone, S&P 500 Up Above 4,700
The stock of Apple Inc. rose to another record high, pushing the iPhone maker’s market cap at $2.87 trillion to almost hitting a $3 trillion milestone.
Apple was up 2.2% to a fresh record high of $175.08 and has gained 8.2% so far this week, while the S&P 500 added 0.3% to end the session at $4,701 for the first time since Nov. 24, regaining some intraday losses after the tech giant’s new peak and better vaccine news from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE.