Author: Steven Sahiounie

Throughout history, they have experienced difficult periods, said the Chinese leader Russian-Chinese relations went through tough periods throughout their history, but they had eventually proved to be strong, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in an interview with Russia’s Rossiyskaya gazeta daily. “At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will soon pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President 10 years ago,” Xi Jinping said in the article published ahead of his visit to Russia. “Over the past decade, I have made eight visits to Russia,” he continued. “I came…

An IOU token and an upcoming futures product are letting traders speculate on ARB prices ahead of this week’s claim event. Derivative markets for the upcoming Arbitrum (ARB) tokens are already open to traders ahead of this week’s claim event. Arbitrum developers confirmed last week that ARB will be airdropped to community members on Thursday, March 23, based on their prior network activity, marking Arbitrum’s official transition into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This means ARB holders will be able to vote on key decisions governing Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova – networks that allow users to transact on the Ethereum blockchain…

Bitcoin breaks free of its banking troubles Good morning Asia. Bitcoin is continuing its tear as Asia begins its business day. The world’s largest digital asset by market capitalization recently pushed past $28,000, gaining 3% in the last 24 hours. Remember how the decline of crypto-friendly banks was supposed to smother crypto? That narrative didn’t last long. Turns out that after the first chapter of the book, where Silvergate and Signature die, there’s a systematic crisis of confidence in the global financial system which has rekindled an appetite for risk assets as TradFi liquidity dries up – despite shaky fiat…

The big move is aimed at avoiding a March 2020-like global dash for cash that saw investors sell everything, including bitcoin, for the U.S. dollar. The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) on Sunday announced it had joined hands with other major central banks to ensure a steady flow of the U.S. dollar, a dominant reserve currency, in the global financial system. The Fed said it would increase the frequency of the dollar swap lines with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank from weekly to daily, starting Monday. The…

Financial services stocks fell 5.5% at the open Monday, with Credit Suisse and UBS losing the slide lower. Credit Suisse shares tanked 62% while UBS fell 14.5% by 8:28 a.m. London time after the latter agreed an emergency takeover of its embattled rival. Other banks also lingered in the red, with ING Groep, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank all down around 7% or more. This article was originally published by CNBC.

The FDIC announced a deal to sell “substantially all deposits and certain loan portfolios” of Signature Bank to Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp. The agency said Signature’s 40 former branches will begin operating under Flagstar’s name on Monday. The agreement involves $38.4 billion of Signature’s assets, including $12.9 billion of loans the FDIC said were bought at a discount of $2.7 billion. It said, however, Flagstar’s bid did not include the roughly $4 billion in deposits related to Signature’s digital banking business. The agency said it will provide those deposits directly to digital banking customers. The FDIC also said about $60…

Regional bank shares plunged last week as Wall Street grew anxious over a wider banking crisis. The SPDR Regional Banking ETF (KRE) declined 6% on Friday, ending the week 14% lower. First Republic was the worst performer among regional banks, with shares plunging 72% in the week through Friday’s close. PacWest fell 19% Friday, while US Bancorp and Western Alliance dropped 9% and 15%, respectively. This article was originally published by CNBC.

The Bank of Japan predicted inflation could slow this year, according to the central bank’s summary of opinions from its March meeting. “The year-on-year rate of increase in the consumer price index (CPI) is likely to decelerate toward the middle of fiscal 2023 due to the effects of pushing down energy prices from the government’s economic measures,” the report said. While the BOJ noted Japan’s economy has been “resilient on the whole,” it also expressed the need to carry on with its monetary easing policy. “Until achievement of the price stability target of 2% sufficiently comes into sight, it is necessary…

Shares of Australian gold miners surged on Monday morning as gold prices traded near a one year high, bucking the wider trend in Australian markets. Gold traded at $1,977.70 per ounce on Monday, its highest level since April 2022. Evolution Mining led the gold mining sector as its shares jumped 11.05%, while Newcrest Mining and Kingsgate Consolidated also saw gains of 5.58% and 3.36% respectively. The wider S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.2%. This article was originally published by CNBC.

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Monday as the Swiss government engineered a forced takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, marking the latest effort by governments around the world to stifle a crisis threatening the banking sector. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 32 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures rose marginally, and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.15%. Investors remained on edge as the week’s trading began, with regional banks still under pressure to shore up their deposit bases in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month. Wall Street expects more actions may be needed to restore confidence in the banking system…