Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Kremlin Spokesperson calls Finland’s accession to NATO another aggravation of the situation. Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday, in a historic strategic shift that began after the war in Ukraine erupted. Last year, the start of the Ukraine war prompted Finland and its neighbor Sweden to drop decades of military non-alignment. Turkey and Hungary, for different reasons of their own, delayed Finland’s bid to come under the NATO umbrella — and Stockholm’s progress remains blocked. But last week, the Turkish parliament voted to clear Finland’s final hurdle. Completing the ratification in well under a year still makes…

It fell to 54%. In the U.S., Coinbase lost business while Binance.US saw a big jump. Binance remains the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, but it’s seen a dramatic drop in market share after a U.S. regulator accused it of fraud and the exchange eliminated zero-fee trading for some trading pairs. Its market share relative to other crypto exchanges has sunk to 54% from 70% two weeks ago, according to data from research platform Kaiko. That’s the lowest since Nov. 5 and the lowest sustained market share since August, Kaiko said. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the exchange and…

The positive correlation between bitcoin’s market value and its implied volatility means faster price appreciation for call option holders. Crypto options exchange Deribit’s forward-looking bitcoin volatility index (DVOL) offers clues about the market’s expectations for price turbulence over the next 30 days, just as CBOE’s volatility index, VIX, does for equities.A key difference has emerged this year. While the VIX continues to serve as Wall Street’s fear gauge, rising during bouts of risk aversion, the DVOL has developed a positive correlation with the cryptocurrency’s price. The 30-day correlation coefficient between bitcoin’s price and the DVOL index flipped positive in early…

Nine aircraft crossed the so-called midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone, as per Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. As tensions remain high between Beijing and Taipei’s main backer Washington, China sent 20 warplanes and three warships toward Taiwan over the past 24 hours, the island’s Defense Ministry said. “20 PLA aircraft and 3 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m. (1 a.m. Moscow time – TASS) today,” the statement said. The Ministry claimed that nine aircraft crossed the so-called midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered the island’s air defense identification zone. “The vehicles…

The Egyptian economic researcher, Ahmed Saeed, expected a resounding collapse of the dollar after the inflation that occurred in America, with expectations of a significant rise in global oil prices. The Egyptian researcher indicated in statements to RT that “the inflation in America and the West today is expected to increase with indications that a barrel of oil will reach one hundred dollars, and this means that there will be a 30% reduction in the value of the dollar. When the price of a barrel of oil rises from $75 to $100, it means a multiplication.” dollar.” And he continued:…

The World Bank announced that it will grant Morocco a $450 million loan to promote financial and digital inclusion. Yesterday, Monday, a statement by the World Bank stated that its Board of Executive Directors approved, on March 31, a third financing “for development policy purposes, at a value of $450 million, with the aim of enhancing financial and digital inclusion, in addition to the previous two financing.” The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund also approved a two-year agreement with Morocco under the flexible credit line, which is designed for crisis prevention purposes, at a value of about $5…

Bloomberg reported that the Chinese currency, the yuan, was able to replace the dollar in Russia, as the yuan has become the most traded currency in the country, and Western sanctions have helped achieve this. And the agency stated, in a report based on daily transactions on the Moscow Stock Exchange, that the yuan outperformed the dollar in terms of monthly trading for the first time last February, and the difference between the two currencies became clearer last March. She pointed out that the large-scale restrictive measures against Moscow and Russian companies prompted the conversion of foreign trade operations from…

Gas prices rose in Europe, in trading yesterday, Monday, to the highest level in 3 weeks, as blue fuel contracts touched the level of $ 600 per thousand cubic meters. Spot gas contracts continued to rise on Monday, rising by 9%, and contracts were closed in the TTF center in the Netherlands at $ 588 per thousand cubic meters, the highest level in 22 days. Three factors contributed to the rise in blue fuel prices in European markets: lower temperatures in the region, lower wind power generation and higher oil prices.  This article was originally published by RT.

The indices of the Moscow Stock Exchange rose, in trading today, Tuesday, and its ruble-denominated MICEX index rose above the level of 2,500 points, for the first time since April 28, 2022. And by 10:55 Moscow time, the MICEX index rose by 1.09% to 2500.29 points, while the RTS stock index rose by 1.09% to 990.7 points. In the currency market, the Russian ruble fell against the dollar and the euro, and the exchange rate of the US and European currencies against the Russian currency reached the highest level since April 2022. The US currency approached the level of 80…

Oil prices continued to rise, in trading today, Tuesday, after the decision of countries in the “OPEC +” group to reduce more production of black gold shook the markets on Monday. By 10:35 Moscow time, US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1.04% to $81.26 a barrel. While Brent crude futures rose by 0.92% to $85.71 a barrel, according to Bloomberg agency data. Yesterday, Monday, crude contracts closed trading at an increase of more than 6%, as US crude rose by 6.3%, at $80.42 a barrel, while “Brent” contracts closed, up by 6.3%, also at $84.93 a barrel. Last Sunday,…