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Inside the first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency wallet

Yahoo Finance opens up the first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency wallet. YF's Seana Smith, Ethan Wolff-Mann and Dion Rabouin sit down with Bill Barhydt, Founder & CEO of Abra.

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  • Goldman Sachs offers bitcoin derivatives to investors - Bloomberg News

    Goldman, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, has opened up trading with non-deliverable forwards that eventually pay out in cash, the report said. The bank will protect itself from the cryptocurrency's volatility by buying and selling Bitcoin futures in block trades on CME Group using Cumberland DRW as its trading partner, according to the report. Goldman declined to comment on the report.

  • The great exit: central banks line up to taper emergency stimulus

    The Bank of England's decision on Thursday to slow the pace of its bond-buying makes it the second central bank from a G7 economy to begin the slow exit from pandemic-era money-printing stimulus schemes. The big three of central banking - the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan - won't officially pare stimulus for a while. The Bank of Canada's C$1 billion ($806 million) cut to its weekly bond-buying programme last month highlights the next phase is about slowing hefty asset purchases.

  • Rio Tinto shareholders reject executives' pay in caves blast backlash

    MELBOURNE (Reuters) -A majority of Rio Tinto's shareholders rejected the global miner's executive pay packages on Thursday, in a backlash over its destruction last year of ancient rock shelters in Western Australia. Rio Tinto blasted 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge last May to expand an iron ore mine, sparking condemnation from investors, politicians, its own staff and the wider community. Following the company's Australian annual meeting, Rio Tinto said more than 60% of votes cast by investors in the Anglo-Australian dual-listed company were against its remuneration report.

  • VW Raises Full-Year Outlook, Warns on Growing Chip Shortage

    (Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG raised its earnings outlook after a strong start to the year, while cautioning that the semiconductor shortage rippling through the industry will become more pronounced in the second quarter.Operating return on sales is forecast at 5.5% to 7% this year, compared with a previous range of 5% to 6.5%, Europe’s largest automaker said Thursday in a statement. VW also raised its projection for net cash flow and net liquidity.“We started the year with great momentum and are on a strong operational course,” Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess said in the release.While demand has rebounded across the industry, manufacturers are now grappling with an acute chip shortage that’s forcing them to halt production lines and prioritize some vehicles. Diess said the company will feel more pain in the second quarter and that some lines will stop “for a few days, a few weeks,” though the fallout won’t be as pronounced as with some rivals.VW shares reversed initial gains and traded down 2.5% in Frankfurt, valuing the manufacturer at 120.6 billion euros ($145 billion).Daily BattleStellantis NV warned this week that the global semiconductor shortage will deteriorate further from the first three months of the year, while Ford Motor Co. has forecast a $2.5 billion hit to earnings from scarce chip supplies.“We’re fighting day by day,” Diess said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We’re doing everything to keep production running.”Still, the fallout from the disruptions might lower VW’s second-quarter return on sales to about 5%, down from 7.7% in the first three months, he said during a call with analysts.VW is at a pivotal moment in getting its electric-car push off the ground and narrow the gap to Tesla Inc. Among the new models this year are the VW ID.4 and the Audi Q4 e-tron, two crossovers about the size of Tesla’s popular Model Y, as part of the industry’s largest rollout of electric cars. Diess said that electric vehicles are actually less affected by the chip shortage, supporting the company’s efforts to tilt production more into that space.Two months after mapping out plans to build six battery factories in Europe VW is still in talks with potential partners and governments over possible partnerships to finance the projects. Decisions could be made “in the next couple of months” and include initial public offerings of “some of the activities,” Diess said. First-quarter operating profit surged to 4.8 billion euros from 900 million euros last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered showrooms and factory floors. The group’s Audi and Porsche premium brand continued to be largest profit contributors, accounting for just over half of the group’s earnings with 2.58 billion euros combined.The German carmaker targets becoming the global EV leader by 2025 at the latest and is allocating substantial financial and management firepower to boost software expertise under a new unit named Cariad. VW’s shares have soared since Diess wooed investors in March with back-to-back briefings on standardizing key technologies across VW’s 12 brands for scale effects that’ll likely elude both Tesla and established automakers.Steel PricesThe recovery in demand is helping to fuel VW’s costly electric plans. Total deliveries during the first quarter jumped 21% to 2.43 million vehicles, mainly driven by a surge in China. Deliveries of electrified models more than doubled to 133,300 vehicles, of which 59,900 were battery electric vehicle and the remainder plug-in hybrids.The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer has targeted selling roughly 600,000 purely battery-powered cars this year and is “fully on track” to comply with tightening European emission rules, Diess said.Besides the semiconductor shortage, rising prices for raw materials from steel to precious metals are also taking their toll on the car industry, Diess said. “Finding new sources, that’s going to be a challenge for 2021 for sure,” Diess said. “Demand is rising for everyone, and supply is constrained.”(Updates with comments from analyst call in seventh paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • U.K. Dishes Out First Fine to Broker Linked to Shah in Tax Scandal

    (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s financial regulator handed down its first penalty over the Cum-Ex tax scandal, fining a broker 178,000 pounds ($248,000) for failings regarding its relationship with hedge-fund manager Sanjay Shah.Sapien Capital, which executed more than 6 billion pounds of trades in Danish and Belgian stocks on behalf of Shah’s Solo Capital group through 2015, had inadequate financial-crime controls in place, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement Thursday.Shah has emerged as a key figure in a scandal over alleged tax fraud that has engulfed multiple European countries, with investigators raking over a trading strategy that allowed investors to claim multiple refunds on a dividend tax that was paid only once. The FCA said the trading “is highly suggestive of sophisticated financial crime.”“These transactions ran money-laundering and other financial-crime risks, which Sapien incompetently failed to see,” Mark Steward, the agency’s director of enforcement and market oversight, said. The fine was reduced due to serious financial hardship.Ramesh Kumar Ahuja, Sapien Capital’s chief executive officer, declined to comment by phone. The firm told the FCA that “it is only with the benefit of hindsight that the shortcomings in relation to the Solo business have become apparent,” according to a summary of its submissions.While more than 25 bankers, traders and lawyers have been charged in Denmark and Germany, U.K. authorities have faced criticisms from the courts for the speed of their investigations.Danish prosecutors said earlier this year that Shah was the mastermind behind a a 9.6 billion-krone ($1.6 billion) tax-fraud case. Shortly after that, Shah and six others were indicted by Hamburg prosecutors over more than 50 cases of money laundering relating to Cum-Ex trades in Denmark and Belgium that went through German accounts.Shah has consistently said he did nothing wrong other than take advantage of loopholes in national laws.The FCA said Sapien had just 40 clients before adding more than 160 customers linked to Solo. The brokerage was expecting to take in as much as 700,000 pounds in brokerage fees annually.Even when Sapien couldn’t be sure about the identity of one of the Solo clients, a mix of offshore companies and pension plans, it proceeded to add the firm as a customer anyway, the FCA said. The client presented mismatched signatures as part of a bundle of documents and Sapien simply asked it to re-sign the forms, the regulator said.Inside Sapien, the mismatched signatures were known as a “touchy subject,” according to the FCA.(Updates with details on Sapien Capital’s submissions in fifth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Brazilian Real Extends Gains After ‘Sharp’ Rate Hike Pledge

    (Bloomberg) -- Discover what’s driving the global economy and what it means for policy makers, businesses, investors and you with The New Economy Daily. Sign up hereThe Brazilian real advanced after the central bank lifted its benchmark rate by 75 basis points and promised another hike of the same size next month in a renewed push to bring inflation back to target.The currency was up 1.3% to 5.2853 per dollar as of 12:43 p.m. in New York, among the best performers in emerging markets. The real leads gains among major currencies in the past month, up 5.9% amid rising commodity prices, and analysts say the central bank decision opens room for more gains.Officials on Wednesday raised the Selic to 3.5%, in line with estimates from all economists in a Bloomberg survey and the guidance given by policy makers at their prior meeting in March. If it makes good on its promise, the bank will have raised borrowing costs by 225 basis points to 4.25% by June.“This more hawkish statement should bring short-term strength to the BRL,” Rabobank economists Mauricio Une and Gabriel Santos wrote in a note. “We had thought they would not signal the following step hike now.” They expect the central bank to raise rates to 5.5% by the end of the year and to 6.5% in 2022.The bank, led by its President Roberto Campos Neto, is acting to rein in inflation that’s surged above the target ceiling to a four-year high. Food and fuel costs have jumped in recent months, and the government recently restarted emergency aid that will firm up demand. Put together, analysts see consumer prices above target this year and next amid an incipient recovery.What Bloomberg Economics Says“The central bank tried to reach a compromise: it promised another sharp rate hike of 75 basis points in the next meeting, but warned that it is not ready yet to fully normalize monetary policy. Despite acknowledging the decline in underlying inflation and mentioning -- for the first time ever -- its dual mandate, we believe that the overall tone of the statement was somewhat hawkish.”--Adriana Dupita, Latin America economistClick here for the full reportReal Has Scope to Gain After BCB’s Hiking Signal: Inside Brazil“They are continuing the hawkish tilt,” said Sacha Tihanyi, head of emerging market strategy at TD Securities in Toronto. “Hike aggressively sooner, and then create some breathing space for the real.”The central bank also reinforced that a “partial normalization of the policy rate remains appropriate to keep some degree of monetary stimulus during the economic recovery.”That suggests they don’t see the key rate climbing in this cycle to a neutral level that’s commonly pegged around 5.5%-6.5%.“However, the Committee emphasizes that there is no commitment with this plan, and that future steps of monetary policy could be adjusted to assure the achievement of the inflation target,” officials wrote in the statement.The swap rates curve fell 4 to 8 basis points, flattening after a low volatility open. Traders held onto their bets that the central bank will raise rates by another 275 basis points by the end of the year, which would take the benchmark to 6.25%. BNP Paribas on Thursday revised its forecast for the Selic to 6.5% from 5% saying rising inflation will lead officials to raise rates by more than expected.Nearing 8%For the first time, policy makers mentioned their secondary mandate of fostering full employment, introduced in the same law that gave the bank its long-sought formal autonomy earlier this year. Yet they offered a positive outlook, saying recent economic indicators have been better than expected despite the pandemic, and predicting uncertainties over growth to gradually return to normal.Last month, President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration started paying out another round of monthly stipends at a total cost of 44 billion reais ($8.2 billion). Lawmakers have recently indicated they will seek an extension of that aid if the government does not accelerate plans for a new social program as the coronavirus continues to spread through the country.Read More: Brazil’s Budget Foreshadows Another Year of Massive SpendingConsumer prices rose 6.17% in the year through mid-April, and many economists see that reading approaching 8% in May. The central bank targets annual inflation at 3.75% this year, with a tolerance range of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.In their statement, policy makers wrote various measures of underlying inflation are already at the top of the range compatible with hitting their target. Complicating matters, commodity prices continue to increase, and higher energy costs are pressuring prices in the short-term.“The central bank is signaling it plans to get to a 5% Selic in 75-basis point hikes, though it leaves the space to change its mind,” said David Beker, chief Brazil economist at Bank of America Corp.(Updates asset performance in second and 10th paragraphs, adds analyst comment in fourth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks mostly rise but Nasdaq falls; dollar backs off 2-week high

    Stock indexes mostly rose globally on Wednesday, although the Nasdaq ended lower for the second day, while the U.S. dollar eased off its highest in more than two weeks. The Dow hit a record high and the S&P 500 ended up slightly, supported by gains in energy and other economically sensitive sectors including materials and financials. Tony Rodriguez, head of fixed income strategy at Nuveen, said it was possible Treasuries could move if the data varies much from forecasts.

  • Hugo Boss sees China booming despite boycott call

    BERLIN (Reuters) -German fashion house Hugo Boss expects sales in mainland China to keep growing fast despite calls for a boycott of Western brands by Chinese consumers launched in late March over Western accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang. The company known for its smart men's suits saw first-quarter sales almost double in mainland China and it expects that momentum to continue unchanged despite the boycott calls, acting Chief Executive Yves Mueller told journalists. At least three Chinese celebrities said in March they were dropping Hugo Boss, and some internet users vowed to boycott the brand for good after it made contradictory comments over its purchase of goods and cotton from the Xinjiang region.

  • Stocks gain, commodities rise on inflation worries

    NEW YORK (Reuters) -The dollar fell and a gauge of global equity markets edged higher on Thursday as surging commodity prices spurred the prospect of rising inflation and led investors into economically sensitive stocks on the reflation trade. Aluminum prices approached levels last seen in 2018 and copper prices flirted with 10-year peaks. Gold jumped more than 1% as the weaker dollar and easing Treasury yields propelled the precious metal, an inflation hedge, above the key $1,800 an ounce psychological level.

  • US STOCKS-Futures rise ahead of jobless claims data; drugmakers extend fall

    U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday ahead of data that is expected to show a decline in weekly jobless claims, while shares of vaccine makers looked to extend losses after President Joe Biden's plan to back intellectual property waivers on COVID-19 shots. Shares in Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc, all involved in the making of COVID-19 vaccines, fell between 0.6% and 5.4% in premarket trading.

  • Alphawave, Holders Seek $1.1 Billion in London Tech Listing

    (Bloomberg) -- Alphawave IP and its holders are looking to raise as much as 810 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in a listing on the London Stock Exchange, adding a rare semiconductor stock to the U.K. market and boosting the City’s attempts to establish itself as a technology hub.The Canadian company is looking to raise 360 million pounds by selling as many as 96 million shares in an initial public offering, while shareholders plan to offload a stake worth as much as 450 million pounds, according to terms seen by Bloomberg.The company plans to market shares in the IPO at 375 pence to 430 pence through May 13, with the new stock set to start trading a day later, the terms showed.The IPO, which will value the company at as much as 3.2 billion pounds, comes as London attempts to position itself as a global financial center for tech listings. Cybersecurity firm Darktrace Plc listed last week at a lower-than-expected valaution after online food-delivery platform Deliveroo Holdings Plc flopped in its market debut in March.Keen to bolster its standing in a post-Brexit world, the U.K. is making serious attempts to lure more tech founders to London and is set to rewrite its listing rules. New York remains the venue of choice for most unicorn IPOs, however, thanks to the U.S. roster of Silicon Valley startups, its deep capital pool and a host of tech behemoths like Alphabet Inc. and Google Inc.Founded in Toronto in 2017, Alphawave makes technology to improve semiconductor power efficiency and speed. The company plans to use the proceeds to expand in Europe, the U.K. and Asia, invest in marketing and recruit talent, it said.The deal will be the first semiconductor IPO in London since Kromek Group Plc’s float in 2013, while a number of other firms have left the market in the meantime. ARM Group, previously the U.K.’s flagship publicly traded semiconductor company, delisted in 2016 after a takeover from SoftBank Group Corp, while Imagination Technologies Group Plc also was acquired by a foreign investor.BlackRock Inc. and Janus Henderson have agreed to take up $510 million of Alphawave’s offering. If there’s sufficient demand, underwriters may place additional shares, bringing the total deal size to as much as 931 million pounds, with up to 29% of the company listed.Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are joint global coordinators, while BMO Capital Markets is joint bookrunner.(Updates with offer details)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Coinbase Plunges to All-Time Low With IPO ETF in Freefall

    (Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. sank to a record low as investors fled high-flying market newcomers.The operator of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange slumped 6% to $256.76 on Thursday, dropping for a fourth straight day. That left the shares just above the $250 reference price for its April direct listing. An exchange-traded fund that tracks shares of companies that recently went public plunged for an eighth day, the longest slide since 2015. Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. and Opendoor Technologies Inc., companies that came to market through blank-check offerings, each sank at least 3.8%.“We saw a mini-bubble in SPACs, IPOs, crypto, clean-tech and hyper-growth in late 2020 and early 2021 and many of these asset classes are nursing bad hangovers,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners.Coinbase’s slide comes as investors pour into extremely speculative cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin and Binance Coin -- tokens that the exchange doesn’t offer. Most of its traffic had come from Bitcoin trades, but the price of the largest crypto coin has been mired in a narrow band for weeks. Coinbase started trading at $381 on April 14 before briefly topping $400. It’s now down 22% from the close on its first day.Nasdaq had set a reference price of $250 a share on April 13 for Coinbase’s direct listing, a number that’s a requirement for the stock to begin trading, but not a direct indicator of the company’s potential market capitalization.“What has really hurt Coinbase, now that their direct listing has taken off, you’re seeing expectations that other exchanges are coming on board,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “There’s this belief this could be as good as it gets for Coinbase in the short-term.”The Renaissance IPO ETF dropped 4.2% on Thursday, bringing its year-to-date loss to about 14%.(Updates prices.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Recently filed taxes? A bonus stimulus check from the IRS may be on its way

    You could be entitled to additional money, based on your 2020 income tax return.

  • Jessica Alba’s net worth skyrockets in Honest Company IPO

    In an interview with Fortune, Alba talked about taking her “fourth baby” (a.k.a. her company) public.

  • It’s official: Melinda Gates is a billionaire after a nearly $2.4 billion stock transfer

    Bill Gates transferred stakes in several companies to Melinda Gates on the day the power couple announced their divorce

  • There are two very real reasons Ethereum is taking off

    The crypto run this time has two features the 2017 version didn’t—institutional adoption and actual applications.

  • A $25 billion dogecoin whale lurks, but Robinhood CEO says ‘we don’t have significant positions in any of the coins we keep’

    Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood Markets, speaking at a “fireside chat” on Thursday, attempts to dispel any lingering speculation that the brokerage may be a so-called dogecoin whale, maintaining a massive stockpile of the crypto for its own benefit.

  • Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF Is Selling Off—and It May Get Worse

    The (ARKK) ETF (ticker: ARKK) delivered a 153% return in 2020. The ETF, which is actively managed by ARK Invest CEO and her team, is down 27% over the last three months, including an 13% decline in the past week alone.

  • I’m getting a $450 car allowance with my new job and want to lease a luxury car. My wife says buy a used car — who’s right?

    Since I have a monthly car allowance of $450 I want to step up my game and maybe even get a luxury car. The car I want to lease would be an almost $600-a-month car payment. During this exciting time, I can understand your desire to step into the car of your dreams.

  • Mortgage rates drop to lowest level since mid-February, but economists warn higher rates could come soon

    Home buyers continue to pour into the real-estate market, encouraged by the favorable financing they can score.