7/18/2018 9:58 AM ET International Business Machines or IBM has partnered with financial technology startup Stronghold to launch stablecoin, a cryptocurrency that's pegged to the US dollar, on Stellar blockchain Network. Stronghold, acting as an anchor to the Stellar network, will issue the digital asset "Stronghold USD." It will be backed with U.S. dollars held at blockchain-focused asset manager Prime Trust, which will then deposit the cash at banks insured by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. http://www.rttnews.com/2915006/ibm-...-stablecoin-on-stellar-network.aspx?type=cryp
7/19/2018 7:34 AM ET Payment solutions giant Mastercard has won a patent for a payment system linking Blockchain-based assets to fiat currency accounts. The US patent is a new method to speed up digital currency payments. According to CNBC, blockchain transactions take about 10 minutes in comparison to nanoseconds for traditional payments. Seth Eisen, Mastercard's senior vice president for communications, told CNBC that Mastercard holders currently can only pay for things using currency that the government has declared as legal tender. Eisen said, "We're consistently looking at ways to bring new thinking and new innovations to market to create value for us and our customers and cardholders. Patent applications are part of that process, taking steps to protect the company's intellectual property, whether or not the idea ever comes to market." http://www.rttnews.com/2915513/mast...-link-blockchain-assets-to-fiat-accounts.aspx
Similar to VIX®, the price of S&P 500 tail risk is calculated from the prices of S&P 500 out-of-the-money options. SKEW typically ranges from 100 to 150. A SKEW value of 100 means that the perceived distribution of S&P 500 log-returns is normal, and the probability of outlier returns is therefore negligible. As SKEW rises above 100, the left tail of the S&P 500 distribution acquires more weight, and the probabilities of outlier returns become more significant. One can estimate these probabilities from the value of SKEW. Since an increase in perceived tail risk increases the relative demand for low strike puts, increases in SKEW also correspond to an overall steepening of the curve of implied volatilities, familiar to option traders as the "skew". http://www.cboe.com/products/vix-index-volatility/volatility-indicators/skew
Which brings us to the report's punchline: how to determine if the bear market is about to turn from sotto voce to fortissimo? Here is BofA's checklist of 6 triggers which would launch the next crash: No SPX new highs (BB Indicator @ 2.5 & record buybacks) No China stock bounce (RRR cuts, weak CNY & credit easing No non-US bank catch up (BoJ botches a monetary tightening, yen appreciates sharply) No capex boom (peak profits) Flatter US yield curve (peak GDP, peak dollar, peak yields) Oil tanks (OPEC, Iran) And as always, keep your eyes on US bank stocks: they are always the best tell.
No wonder so many people are getting cancer -in food packaging, water and stain repellent sprays, clothing carpets, furniture https://www.epa.gov/pfas/basic-information-pfas#exposed