Author: Steven Sahiounie

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his staff met Wednesday with California Governor Gavin Newsom to tour Tesla’s new engineering headquarters. Sources close to the governor told CNBC the meeting at Tesla’s engineering office in Palo Alto, California focused on the company’s efforts to create jobs and expand in the state. The expansion will focus on hiring engineers proficient in research development and artificial intelligence. Tesla is taking over the lease for the office space, previously occupied by Hewlett-Packard. The plans will help accelerate efforts to produce autonomous driving and robot technology. “This was HP’s original headquarters, and so I think it’s…

Intel cut its quarterly dividend by more than 65%, from 36.5 cents to 12.5 cents, the chipmaker announced Wednesday, weeks after the company implemented a wide-ranging set of cost cuts. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said on a call with analysts that the company’s board was cautious in weighing the first dividend cut since 2000. He added Intel intended to resume growing the dividend “over time.” “The board and I continue to view the dividend as a critical component to the overall attractiveness of Intel,” he added. Intel shares were largely flat at Wednesday’s open after the news. Gelsinger insisted on the call that both…

European markets were lower on Wednesday, as investors gauge the global economic outlook and await the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.3% lower, with most sectors recording declines. Mining stocks dropped 2.1% and banks fell 1.6%, while media stocks gained 1.4%. EUROPEAN MARKETS TICKER COMPANY PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE .FTSEFTSE 1007930.63-47.12-0.59.GDAXIDAX15399.8900.FCHICAC 40 Index7299.2600.FTMIBFTSE MIB27101.53-307.81-1.12.IBEXIBEX 35 Idx9172.700 European markets eased by 0.2% on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks had their worst day of the year so far, amid fears that the Fed will keep rates higher for longer than previously thought. U.S. stocks wavered on Wednesday, as the market struggled…

The Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting ended with the Fed raising its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point WASHINGTON – The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting are expected on Wednesday to detail the breadth of debate at the U.S. central bank over how much further interest rates may need to rise to slow inflation and cool an economy that has remained stronger than expected despite monetary tightening. The Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting ended with the Fed raising its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, a return to a…

Asia-Pacific markets were lower on Wednesday after Wall Street’s sharp losses overnight, and New Zealand’s central bank continued to hike its benchmark interest rate. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%, the highest in over 14 years, to tame inflation. The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell fractionally to close at 11,794.2 and the New Zealand dollar gained 0.21% to stand at 0.6226 against the U.S. dollar. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.3% lower at 7,314.5 as nation saw its wage price index for the fourth quarter of 2022 come in lower than estimates. Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished 1.34% lower…

BIS general manager Agustín Carstens reckons the war between fiat and crypto has been won by fiat. The community disagrees. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has long taken a cautious approach to Bitcoin  $24,367 and cryptocurrencies. However, there is no need for caution anymore as the “battle has been won” between fiat and crypto, according to BIS. BIS general manager Agustín Carstens, who made the claim, highlighted that “technology doesn’t make for trusted money,” among further criticisms of crypto in an interview with Bloomberg. As the central bank for central banks, the BIS has emphasized the need for regulation and…

The three largest US stock market indexes dropped by up to 3% yesterday. Bitcoin failed at decisively overcoming $25,000 once again yesterday, and the subsequent rejection brought it back down to just below $24,000. Most altcoins have suffered even more on a daily scale, with MATIC, OKB, SOL, and several others dumping by around 7%. Bitcoin Mimicks Wall Street The past several days, more precisely since the end of last week, were highly volatile for the primary cryptocurrency. It skyrocketed to and beyond $25,000 on Thursday, registering a six-month high, before dumping just as rapidly to under $23,500. Another two…

A new partnership between Binance and Ingenico allows in-store payments in France via Binance Pay. Mainstream crypto and crypto-based services adoption continues, with more companies bridging traditional financial (TradFi) solutions with decentralized financial (DeFi) solutions. In an announcement on Feb. 22, a new pilot program launched between the crypto exchange, Binance and credit card service company Ingenico, allows in-store crypto payments via Binance Pay. Currently, the initial test of this offering is only available on Ingenico Axium payment terminals in France. According to the announcement, the program accepts more than 50 cryptocurrencies. Initially, merchants will be paid in cryptocurrency; however, a crypto-to-fiat solution…

The CEO blamed the layoffs on a need to maximise how long its cash reserves will last. Australian crypto gaming company Immutable is cutting 11% of its workforce, according to a letter to employees from the CEO shared with CoinDesk by the platform. The news was first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Chief Executive and co-founder James Ferguson announced the job cuts in the note blaming the layoffs on a need to maximize how long its cash reserves will last and put its resources towards the most important projects. “I take full ownership for these actions,” Ferguson wrote. He added,…

The Canadian Securities Administrators has tightened registration requirements for crypto exchanges for the second time, after the disorder seen in 2022. he Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a notice on Feb. 22 describing new commitments it expects from crypto asset trading platforms (CTPs) seeking registration in Canada. The CTPs will enter into a new version of preregistration undertakings (PRUs), which are legally binding documents. Registered CTPs will be contacted by their principal regulators about compliance with the new expectations. The new commitments represent investor protections in light of the spate of CTP insolvencies that occurred in 2022, the CSA wrote. The new…