11Dec2017 Market Close: Wall Street’s Main Indexes Closed Higher, DOW Up 57 Points, Texas Tea Rubs Against The 58 Handle, US Dollar Ticks Higher, Gold Index Slips Lower

New bitcoin futures suggest breakneck price gains to slow

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Jemima Kelly and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

Tech, energy sectors boost Wall Street

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Monday, helped by the technology and energy sectors as oil prices rose and investors waited for an expected U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike later in the week.

Hackers hit U.S., Russian banks in ATM robbery scam: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A previously undetected group of Russian-language hackers silently stole nearly $10 million from at least 18 mostly U.S. and Russian banks in recent years by targeting interbank transfer systems, a Moscow-based security firm said on Monday.

Monsanto offers cash to U.S. farmers who use controversial chemical

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Monsanto Co will give cash back to U.S. farmers who buy a weed killer that has been linked to widespread crop damage, offering an incentive to apply its product even as regulators in several U.S. states weigh restrictions on its use.

Verizon to pay $2.25 billion to NFL for five-year streaming deal: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc will pay around $2.25 billion for a five-year partnership with the National Football League that allows users to stream games on its Yahoo and go90 platforms as well as on mobile devices, a source told Reuters on Monday.

Apple confirms deal to buy music discovery app Shazam

SAN FRANSICO (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Monday confirmed it had reached a deal to acquire Shazam Entertainment Ltd, the U.K.-based app that lets users identify songs by pointing a smart phone at the audio source.

UBS leads blockchain data reporting pilot ahead of new EU rules

ZURICH/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Financial companies led by Swiss bank UBS are testing a blockchain platform to help them comply with new European Union trade data standards due to come into force next year.

Zurich Insurance to buy ANZ’s life insurance businesses for $2.14 billion

ZURICH (Reuters) – Zurich Insurance has agreed to buy ANZ’s OnePath Life insurance businesses for 2.85 billion Australian dollars ($2.14 billion), the latest and largest foray by the Swiss company into the Australian market.

HSBC draws line under Mexican cartel case after five-years on probation

LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC drew a line under its punishment for lapses in anti-money laundering controls on Monday, saying the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) would end its deferred prosecution agreement, lifting the threat of further penalties.

Bipartisan ‘Cryptocurrency Fairness Act’ Moves to Congress

Authored by Jerry Brito via CoinCenter.org,

Bipartisan bill will make it much easier to use Bitcoin to pay for every day goods and services.

In April, Coin Center explained how the tax laws affecting digital currency transactions create serious friction for consumers and merchants and discourages the use of Bitcoin (or any cryptocurrency) as an everyday payment method.

We also outlined how Congress could address this problem. Since then we have been working with congressional staff to develop legislation that would address the problem, and today I’m thrilled that with the leadership of Rep. Jared Polis and Rep. David Schweikert, co-chairs of the Blockchain Caucus, the Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Act has been introduced in Congress.

The bill does two things.

First, it creates a de minimis exemption for cryptocurrency transactions for goods or services.

Today, if you buy a cup of coffee with bitcoins, you’ll have to calculate and report any gains that you experienced and pay tax on any gains. Under the bill, any transaction under $600 would be completely exempt, so you’d neither have to worry …

Russia Rebukes US For Sowing “Regional Instability” As Military Drills Begin

The latest round of military drills involving the US, Japan and South Korea began their latest set of tracking drills on Monday, DW reported, citing sources in the South Korean military.

The drills – which are meant for “practicing tracking an object and sharing information on it among the three countries” – were being held in waters off the coast of Japan, according to Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

The US and its regional allies are stepping up their military drills in response to North Korea’s decision to test-launch the Hwasong-15, a new ICBM that US intelligence believes has the capacity to strike Washington, DC, as well as nearly any other part of the US – though the degree of accuracy remains questionable.

In response to drills held last week, North Korea warned that it is “ready for nuclear war” with the US. Though its threats have long rung hollow, US, South Korean and Japanese intelligence officials say that the North might soon attain the ability to load a nuclear warhead on its newest ICBM, which would enable it to launch a nuclear strike – or possibly an equally devastating EMP attack.

The exercises are the si …

Times Square Terrorist Planned Attack For Years, Told Police “Motive Was Revenge”

Updat (2 pm ET): In a harrowing account of today’s Times Square terrorist attack, the New York Post interviewed several witnesses who shared their accounts of the immediate aftermath of the attack, which triggered a small stampede out of the narrow subway tunnel where Akayed Ullah detonated his homemade pipe bombs.

“I heard a kaboom. It was shaky,” said Jamar Moore, 39, who was near a turnstile when he felt the explosion.

“There was a little rumble. Everyone just hit the stairs and started running. People were losing their pocketbooks. Once we heard that pop, everybody was out.”

In the mad scramble to flee after the would-be suicide bomber’s explosive device erupted underground, people at the station were falling over each other, trampling on others and losing their shoes, Moore recalled.

“People started getting trampled. I see about three to four people falling,” he said.

Sarah Benelli, 35, was on an A train that had pulled into 42nd Street/Port Authority when the bomb detonated, shaking the whole train and causing frightened commuters to jump on board to try to get away.

“I had headphones on, but I felt this rattle in my chest. I pulled the headphones out, and it sounded just like thunder. It reverberated for a couple seconds, and it was really loud,” said the Inwood resident.

“As I heard the rumbling, I heard people on the platform running on the train. There were a couple expletives; people were obviously scared. A few people ducked down in the train, and …

Bitcoin Smashes Record After Coinbase Resumes Trading, Futs Arb Spread Tumbles

Something just snapped in the cryptosphere…

First, we noted that the spread between Bitcoin spot and futures was tumbling…

Something we would expect to close:

“Arbitrage will close that gap, but it will be days and weeks,” Cboe Chief Executive Officer Ed Tilly said on Bloomberg Television Monday, less than a day after launching the product.

“If you’re doing a cash-settled future, it’s just a bet,” said Aaron Brown, a former managing director at quant hedge fund AQR Capital Management who invests in the cryptocurrency and writes for Bloomberg Prophets.

“If that’s not related to any underlying physical transaction, the only people who want to do it are gamblers.”

The wide arb spread is “a big issue. It’s an illiquidity, it has to go away.”

The price gap between bitcoin and bitcoin futures won’t last forever, said Dave Weisberger, CEO of CoinRoutes, a cryptocurrency data and order routing company.

“The futures will ping-pong between premium and discount,” he said.

“I suspect at some point, potentially triggered by a negative event, it will flip. Markets go up and down, and bitcoin has been no different. It’s just been fast.”

At the same …

Stop Talking About Bitcoin’s Market Cap

Enthusiasts say bitcoin is taking over the world. But comparisons to real companies, currencies and countries are flawed measures for the cryptocurrency.

Despite Mergers, Hospitals Are in Serious Condition

American hospitals have a target on their backs. The latest merger talk is an attempt to rally their strength, but industry payers’ battle against high health-care costs shows no sign of letting up.

Another Sign of Frothy Markets: Blank-Check Boom

Would you invest in a company that couldn’t tell you what its business was going to be? Some would, in fact they are doing so in record amounts.

Wal-Mart widens appeal to compete with Amazon without leaving low-income customers behind

Wal-Mart has added merchandise, digital offerings and is changing its name to show that it has wide appeal in the age of Amazon, but holds on to its appeal to low-income consumers.

Chef Mario Batali takes leave after allegations of sexual harassment

Renowned chef and cookbook author Mario Batali has stepped away from the day-to-day operations of his business after four women came forward alleging that he sexually harassed them in a pattern of behavior spanning at least two decades, food website Eater reported Monday.

Trump Today: Trump Today: President orders NASA to send astronauts back to the moon

President Donald Trump on Monday had a relatively quiet day, as he pushed forward a plan to return astronauts to the moon and discussed how to increase infrastructure with a key member of Congress.