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What Moved Global Markets
– China has agreed that the World Health Organization will send international experts there as soon as possible to increase understanding of a new coronavirus and guide the global response to the outbreak, the U.N. agency said on Tuesday. Xi said earlier on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating the “devil” coronavirus that has killed 106 people, spread across the world and rattled financial markets.
– Investor anxiety over the coronavirus led to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s longest losing streak since August, and the market may have more to lose.
– Looking back 20 years, previous epidemics from SARS in 2003 to the Ebola scare six years ago shaved 6% to 13% off the S&P 500 over different lengths of time. The equity benchmark was down about 2.6% through Monday’s close since Jan. 21.
– U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as gains in technology and financial sectors helped major indexes recover from their worst selloff in about four months on worries over a coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the global economy.
Crypto Prices (from CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin: Up 2.63% to $9,318.00
Total trading volume (24h): $34.06+ billion USD
Ethereum: Up 1.88% to $176.55
Total trading volume (24h): $11.81+ billion USD
3 biggest movers 24 hours
Biggest Mover 1: Evedo (EVED) is up 115.01% to $0.014897
Biggest Mover 2: Acute Angle Cloud (AAC) is up 84.47% to $0.002617
Biggest Loser: BitBall (BTB) is down 87.96% to $0.001148
What moved Crypto Markets (i.e. digital assets)
– The venture arm of the world’s most profitable company Saudi Aramco has invested $5 million in blockchain-based oil trading platform Vakt. Announcing the news on Tuesday, Vakt said Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures is now one of its 12 shareholders. With the fresh capital in place, Vakt plans to expand into new markets – with a particular focus on Asia. Saudi Aramco has both the world’s second-largest proven crude oil reserves and the second-largest daily oil production.
– Singapore’s Payment Services Act has come into force today. The new law requires all crypto businesses operating in the country to be registered and licensed. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the new law will strengthen consumer protection and promote confidence in the use of electronic payments.
– The World Economic Forum (WEF), an international organization committed to improving the state of the world, has set up a consortium to design a “robust” governance framework for digital currencies, including stablecoins. The consortium aims to bring together private and public sector organizations to help achieve financial inclusion goals through digital currencies. Several central banks, including the Bank of England (BoE), will help the WEF to develop a governance framework.
Other Specialties
Fintech: Bitcoin’s price fluctuations do not make it a “reliable” store of value, according to new research from financial services giant Deutsche Bank. In the first part of its 3-series “The Future of Payments” reports, published last week, Germany-headquartered Deutsche Bank said while cryptocurrencies have “passed the tipping point needed to become fashionable,” they are still in the “early adoption stage.”
Healthtech: Largest global healthcare event – Arab Health 2020 – began in Dubai on Monday. Virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, cutting edge technologies are on display, and A LOT of investment talks are expected.
Al: RealityEngines.AI, a company started by a bunch of ex-googlers, launches the world’s first Autonomous Cloud AI Service. It’s an autonomous AI generation service aimed at startups and medium to large enterprises that have put off adopting AI due to a shortage of data or personnel.
Smart cities: India’s Tata Group is making its biggest push yet toward clean vehicles with plans to make electric cars and batteries, set up charging stations and build a battery recycling plant, senior executives said on Tuesday.
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