Weekly News Summary For November 22-28, 2019

Friday, November 22, 2019: Bitcoin Posts Six-month Low

Bitcoin stumbled to a six-month low on Friday, continuing a gloomy week that has seen it fall as much as 17%.

The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency hit the $7,000 level, before regaining some of its losses to trade at $7,182.40, while other digital currencies, including the Ethereum and the ripple, have registered an 18% and 12% decline respectively this week.

Monday, November 25, 2019: Charles Schwab to Merge with TD Ameritrade

Charles Schwab is partnering with TD Ameritrade for a merger arrangement worth $26 billion, a deal that could see the establishment of a brokerage giant with over $5 trillion in assets under management.

Schwab’s CEO and president, Walter Bettinger, is expected to lead of the combined firm, while Ameritrade’s CFO, Stephen Boyle, has been appointed as interim CEO and president.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019: US, China Reached Consensus: Ministry of Commerce

The Ministry of Commerce kept a positive tone on Tuesday, stating that Beijing and Washington had reached a consensus on properly resolving relevant issues during a phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

China’s Commerce Ministry added that both parties continued to work on the remaining aspects for a phase one deal, although the statement issued presented no further information, and markets just showed a muted reaction after rallying on Monday.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019: China Industrial Profits Hit Sharp Drop in October

Profits at China’s industrial firms fell to its fastest in eight months in October, as the sector weakened from sluggish domestic demand and the impact of the country’s trade spat with the US.

Data presented by the NBS on Wednesday showed that China’s industrial profits dropped at an annual rate of 9.9% last month to 427.56 billion yuan, the largest decline since the January-February period and compared with a 5.3% stumble in September.

Thursday, November 28, 2019: Trump Signs Bill Supporting Hong Kong Protesters

US President Donald Trump has signed legislation supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, prompting China to warn about a potential retaliatory action, just as the two countries are near closing a phase one trade deal.

China’s Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Terry Branstad, with Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng requesting him to stop getting involved with the issues in Hong Kong, as such actions would complicate ties and threaten cooperation in important areas.