Author: Steven Sahiounie

A month ago, code blue sirens went off at banks across the globe after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. As banks work to put that painful episode in the rear view mirror, it’s unclear if the situation has stabilized or if it’s the calm before another storm. More details will come on Friday, when the Federal Reserve is set to release the findings of its investigation into what led to SVB’s collapse. For now, looking at banks’ deposits may lead you to believe that banks are in better shape than they are, but they “are not…

Two weeks after the upgrade, the options market is assigning a slightly more negative sentiment to ether. Two weeks after Etheruem’s Shapella upgrade, the crypto options market is signaling a higher perceived risk of downside volatility in the smart contract blockchain’s native token, ether (ETH), than market leader bitcoin (BTC). On Tuesday, options tied to ether and bitcoin signaled a bias for puts or bearish bets that offer the purchaser protection against price slides. However, the demand for puts in the ether market was stronger than in the bitcoin market. While ether’s one-month bearish out-of-the-money (OTM) puts traded at a five…

Total market capitalization has risen 4.9% in the past 24 hours on expectations of Fed easing, some investors said. Bitcoin (BTC) rose to $29,000 in European morning hours on Wednesday, with some investors pointing to expectations the Federal Reserve will inject money into the economy in the coming weeks after signs of yet another U.S. bank collapse. It was last at that level April 20, TradingView data show. Shares of First Republic Bank (FRC) tumbled 50% on Tuesday after the San Francisco-based lender revealed a dramatic slump in deposits. Investors withdrew over $100 billion from the bank this quarter, prompting…

Australia’s inflation for the first quarter of 2023 slowed to 7% year-on-year, down from a 23-year high of 7.8% in the quarter ended December 2022. This also marked the end of a streak of five straight increases in the consumer price index since the quarter ended September 2021. The country’s bureau of statistics reported that the largest contributors for the March quarter were costs of gas and household fuels, which surged 14.3%, as well as costs of tertiary education and domestic holiday travel, which increased 9.7% and 4.7% respectively. The trimmed mean CPI – which excludes the most volatile 30% of items…

Asia-Pacific markets were trading mixed on Wednesday after banking fears were reignited on Wall Street. Shares of First Republic Bank tumbled more than 49% after the regional bank posted its latest quarterly results, saying late Monday that deposits dropped 40% to $104.5 billion in the first quarter but have since stabilized.  Investors were also watching Australia’s inflation numbers for the first quarter of 2023, which slowed to 7% year-on-year, down from a 23-year high of 7.8% the previous quarter. The S&P/ASX 200 was down marginally to close at 7,316.3. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.71% to end the day at 28,416.47 , and the Topix dropped 0.89%…

The best hope for avoiding a collapse of ailing lender First Republic hinges on how persuasive one group of bankers can be with another group of bankers. Advisors to First Republic will attempt to cajole the big U.S. banks who’ve already propped it up into doing one more favor, CNBC has learned. The pitch will go something like this, according to bankers with knowledge of the situation: Purchase bonds from First Republic at above-market rates for a total loss of a few billion dollars – or face roughly $30 billion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fees when First Republic fails. It’s the…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Tehran welcomes any initiative and measure resulting in the removal of blockade on Yemen, establishment of ceasefire, and compromise among the Yemeni political groups. Amirabdollahian held a meeting with Mohammed Abdulsalam, the chief negotiator of Yemen’s National Salvation Government, at the embassy of Iran in Oman on Tuesday. The top Iranian diplomat described as positive the progress in the case of humanitarian issues and exchange of hostages in Yemen. He laid emphasis on Yemen’s territorial integrity and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes any initiative, plan and action that leads to the lifting…

The Ministry of Defence insists it has no obligation to help clean up areas contaminated by the weaponry The UK government has already started shipments of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has told parliament. He added that the British military would not attempt to track where the weapons are used. In response to questions from Scottish MP Kenny MacAskill, Heappey confirmed on Tuesday that DU munitions for the UK-made Challenger 2 tank had already arrived in Ukraine, though declined to comment on Kiev’s “usage rates for the rounds provided.” “We have sent thousands of rounds of…

President Cyril Ramaphosa misspoke when he claimed the country would withdraw from the court, his spokesman clarified South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made a mistake when he said the country would leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), his office said on Tuesday. “This clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress (ANC) on South Africa’s status with regard to the ICC,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on its website. “Regrettably, the President erroneously affirmed a similar position during a media session today.” The presidency affirmed that South Africa remains…

The Chinese leader pointed out that Beijing “has no intention to benefit” from the Ukrainian crisis in any way Chinese authorities have no intention to quietly observe the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, but at the same time will not fuel the flame, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a phone call with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky Wednesday. “China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible power,” Xi Jinping said, according to CCTV. “We will not observe the ongoing fire quietly, and we will not fuel the flames.” The Chinese leader pointed out that Beijing…