MARKET MOVERS
- The epic boom in luxury home sales is over for now. Sales of luxury homes fell 17.8% y/y during 3 months ending April (the largest drop since the onset of the pandemic). Only 2 instances in the past decade with steeper declines: 3m ending 6/30/20 (-23.6%) & 3m ending 5/31/20 (-21.6%).
- Binance pauses Bitcoin withdrawals due to a ‘stuck transaction'. The stuck transaction is reportedly causing backlogs. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet that this is going to take a bit longer to fix than the initial estimate. This is only impacting the Bitcoin network and holders can still withdraw Bitcoin on other networks like BEP-20. Read more here.
- Crypto lender Celsius pauses withdrawals due to ‘extreme market conditions’. The move has raised concerns about Celsius’ solvency. The firm has seen the value of its assets more than halve since October when it handled $26 billion in client funds. Celsius’ cel token has also erased 97% of its value in the same timeframe. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies took a beating on the news. Read more here.
- Bitcoin’s current drawdown contradicts underlying fundamental metrics. If we look at the on-chain distribution of bitcoin, we see that wallet addresses with 0.01 bitcoin, 0.1 bitcoin, and 1 bitcoin continue to hit all-time high levels. The bitcoin network hash rate has more than quadrupled in the last three years. It continues to hit all-time high levels today, proving that the network has never been more secure. Read more here.
- U.S. dollar hits a 20-year high as investors dump stocks. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six peers, surged to above 104.70 on Monday. It’s the dollar’s highest level relative to major peers since late 2002. Stocks are selling off amid the risk of a recession. With the yields on the 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury notes each pushing to new decade highs on Monday, cash is among the winners.
- Amazon is launching a drone delivery service in California. Feedback from these users will help determine how the program is scaled up for additional users. Thousands of items will be eligible for drone delivery when it starts later this year. The Prime Air drone will deliver to customers' backyards, hovering to release the items and then flying away.
- Soybean prices hit record as inflation stays hot. Soybean prices have soared some 30% this year to a record due to fear of further Fed rate increases. Purchasing commitments for new-crop soybeans—those just planted this spring and which have only begun to grow—are up 68% from this time last year. With the tighter world supplies, if anything goes wrong with the weather then prices have to move. Read more here.
WHAT TO WATCH
- Landlords ready war chests to buy in the cooling US housing market. The chance for landlords to score deals on new rental homes is shaping up as higher mortgage rates push some would-be buyers to bow out of a frenzied market. The surge in rates is seen as helping calm the housing mania. Slowing price gains and growing inventory may be suitable for prospective buyers over the long run when string deals with builders. Read more here.
- Prologis to buy Duke Realty in a $26 billion deal. The transaction is anticipated to create immediate accretion of about $310 million to $370 million from corporate, general, and administrative cost savings, and operating leverage as well as mark-to-market adjustments on leases and debt, Prologis said in a press release. The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, has been approved by the boards of both companies.
- Mastercard to allow NFT purchases with its cards in several marketplaces. The payments giant has announced its new plan to partner with a number of well-known non-fungible token marketplaces, to enable purchases with fiat currency using its cards. The company plans to enable this functionality on several platforms, including Immutable X, Mintable, the Nifty Gateway, MoonPay, and a few others.
- More bad news for Tesla in China. Niche news website Electrek obtained a leaked email that Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent to company employees saying that Tesla had a "very tough quarter" due to supply chain challenges in China, and called for employees to "rally hard to recover." Also, China is reimposing some restrictions in the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai under its "zero COVID" policy after clusters of new cases were found. Read more here.
