Coin News

Another attempt is being made at brokering a compromise before the Bitcoin Cash Civil War culminates in a permanent blockchain split, and it’s coming from what may initially seem like an unlikely source: Cobra, the pseudonymous co-owner of Bitcointalk and Bitcoin.org. Earlier this year, Cobra — originally a critic of Bitcoin Cash — came out

The post The Owner of Bitcoin.org Has a Plan to Avoid a Bitcoin Cash Civil War appeared first on CCN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

The SEC announced yesterday nine bitcoin ETF disapproval orders are to be stayed until further review but what does that mean exactly?

• The new Lamborghini Aventador SVJ supercar made its debut on Thursday in Monterey, California. 
• The SVJ is the latest update to Lamborghini's flagship Aventador.
• It's powered by a 770 horsepower, naturally aspirated V12 and boasts a top speed of more than 217 mph.
• The most significant updates to the Aventador is the addition of Lambo's ALA 2.0 active aerodynamic system.
• The Aventador SVJ retails for $517,770 in the US.

Lamborghini's flagship Aventador supercar has been around since 2011. Since then, the Italian supercar maker has been steadily improving the big V12 bruiser while burnishing its reputation as a track weapon. 

On Thursday, Lamborghini introduced the latest version of supercar dubbed the Aventador SVJ in Monterey, California.

The Aventador SVJ follows in the footsteps of 2015's Aventador SV and last year's Aventador S. SVJ, in case you're wondering, stands for Superveloce Jota. Superveloce means "superfast" in Italian, while Jota is a designation used for Lambos geared towards track performance.

"The Aventador SVJ is an innovative car and represents the absolute pinnacle of our super sports car product range," Automobili Lamborghini CEO, Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.

Lurking behind the driver is a 770 horsepower, naturally aspirated, V12 engine, the most powerful production V12 in company history. It's hooked up to both a four-wheel-drive and a four-wheel-steering system. 

According to Lambo, the sprint from 0-62 mph happens in just 2.8 seconds with a top speed of more than 217 mph. 

But the big story with the Aventador SVJ is the addition of Lamborghini's new ALA 2.0 active aerodynamics system. It's an improved version of the ALA system that debuted on Lambo's record-setting Huracan Performante last year. The system uses a series of active flaps and air ducts to control downforce. 

Lamborghini will make just 900 Aventador SVJs during its production run. 

The company will also produce 63 special edition Aventador SVJ 63s in honor of Lambo's founding in 1963.   

The price of all of this awesomeness is not cheap, $517,770 in the US.

SEE ALSO: BMW just unveiled its long-awaited Z4 sports car and it's beautiful

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• The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday.
• That erases any doubt about whether this is the longest bull market in history.
• The benchmark index hit a record on Wednesday but didn't close at a new high. 

The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday, solidifying the bull market as the longest of all time.

The benchmark index gained 0.62% to settle at 2,874.69, eclipsing the previous record of 2,872.87 set in January. Friday's gain was significant as it left no doubt about whether we are now in the longest bull market in US stock market history.

After an intraday record high was hit on Wednesday, extending the bull run to 3,453 days, some on Wall Street suggested the record wouldn't technically fall until the index closed at a new high.

The S&P 500 has now gained 331% from its low of 666.79 on March 6, 2009.

Autodesk (+15.13%) was Friday's biggest gainer after its strong quarterly report. AMD (+7.49%) and Netflix (+5.63%) also saw big gains.

The retailers Foot Locker (-9.21%) and Gap (-8.54%) were the biggest decliners after delivering their quarterly results, while Macy's (-4.33%) fell after a couple of days of stabilization following its disappointing results.

Now read:

• The legendary investor who predicted the past 2 bubbles breaks down how the 9-year bull market will end
• GOLDMAN SACHS: The market is about to be redefined by one huge shift — and buying these 14 stocks could help you make a killing
• It looks like 'Y2K all over again' for stocks as evidence of an imminent crash continues to pile up

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Creditors of infamous bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox may finally get their money back, or at least some of it, anyway. According to a notice dated Aug. 23 and attributed to Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the company has opened an online claim filing system so that creditors can begin registering claims on the funds that

The post Mt Gox Estate Begins Accepting Claims from Bitcoin Creditors appeared first on CCN

• Alibaba raised $3 billion to further invest in popular Chinese food-delivery service Ele.me.
• The e-commerce giant announced earlier this month that Ele.me will start delivering Starbucks  to customers beginning in September.
• Investments in Ele.me may weigh on Alibaba's bottom line but will increase top line results, said a team of Jefferies analysts.
• Watch Alibaba trade in real time here.

Alibaba is aggressively investing in popular Chinese food-delivery service Ele.me with the hopes of expanding its reach into consumer-wallet spending beyond e-commerce.

The Chinese e-commerce giant said Thursday that it has raised $3 billion to further invest in Ele.me and will merge the online food-delivery unit with Koubei, a life search engine, to build its flagship local services vehicle. In May, Alibaba completed its acquisition of Ele.me, which has an enterprise value of $9.5 billion, with the purpose of winning 50% market share in three year's time. 

Alibaba announced earlier this month that it will partner Ele.me with Starbucks, to start delivering its coffee to customers in September. Alibaba believes the partnership will be a boon for both companies with plans to expand the delivery program to more than 2,000 Starbucks stores across 30 Chinese cities by the end of 2018. 

And Wall Street agrees.

The company's investments in new retail and Ele.me are "the right strategic investments" in the eyes of RBC analyst Mark Mahaney, who has an "outperform" rating and $215 price target — almost 25% above where shares were trading Friday. 

"Alibaba’s healthy and stable core marketplace margin of 62% enables them higher flexibility to expand into larger addressable revenue opportunities beyond eCommerce into entertainment content and local services," Jefferies analyst Karen Chan said in a note sent out to clients on Friday.

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• The peso was up nearly 1% on Friday.
• The US and Mexico have reportedly made progress on NAFTA.
• Watch the peso trade in real time here.

The Mexican peso rose nearly 1% on Friday after reports that the US and Mexico were nearing a preliminary breakthrough on NAFTA, which would bring the two countries and Canada closer to resolving back-and-forth trade negotiations that have dragged on for more than a year.

Reuters reports that disputes about auto rules have pushed talks into next week, but the US and Mexico are seemingly closer to resolving other issues. The two countries earlier this month entered a round of bilateral negotiations for modernizing the 2015 trade deal, which President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of. 

The apparent progress comes as a relief for those who feared the July election of leftist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been a tough critic of Trump, could ramp up tensions between the US and Mexico. 

"With election uncertainty past in Mexico, prospects for a NAFTA deal and speculation over presidential appointments matter most," Citi strategists led by Steven Wieting wrote in a note Friday. 

Also on Friday, data showed Mexico's economy stalled in the second quarter as increasing activity in the services sector was offset by slowing industrial and agricultural production.

Gross domestic product in Mexico declined 0.2% from the quarter before, the the national statistics agency said Friday, compared with expectations for a 0.1% contraction.

Mexico's current account deficit narrowed in the second quarter to $3.882 billion, the central bank said in a separate report. 

The peso is up 4.25% against the dollar this year. 

SEE ALSO: One quote from Chinese giant Alibaba shows how Trump's trade war could backfire

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Bitcoin today underwent a slow and stable upside correction, rising as much as 4.5 percent from the previous day bottom at $6,317. BTC/USD kicked off towards 6500-fiat during the early trading session and established its intraday high around 6580-fiat. The pair, however, began to settle down near the said high as the European trading session came

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis: BTCUSD in Slow and Stable Upside appeared first on CCN

• Hurricane Lane is a category three storm bearing down on Hawaii.
• Visitors and residents have headed to airports to evacuate.
• American, United, and Hawaiian Airlines have all indicated operations will be affected by the storm.
• Delta and United Airlines have both launched additional flights to Hawaii and have capped prices.
• Most major US airlines are offering travel waivers that will allow you to alter your reservation for free.

Hurricane Lane was downgraded to a category three storm on Thursday. But with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, officials still believe the storm remains a highly dangerous threat to Hawaii. 

Some parts of the state have reported damage from heavy rain, winds, landslides, and severe flooding. 

With Lane bearing down on Hawaii's Big Island, many of the state's residents and visitors have flocked to its airports to evacuate. 

As of early Friday, Hawaii's 15 airports remain operational, officials said in an emergency alert. However, flying into and out of the islands may prove to be challenging because of the inclement weather and high traffic loads. 

"Please be advised that seats on flights for the next few days remain very limited because of high load factors," Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement. "While the path of Hurricane Lane remains uncertain, it will likely impact our flight schedule as it passes the Islands."

There were complaints on Wednesday of exorbitantly high tickets fares for flights out of the Islands. Both Delta and United told Business Insider that they have capped their prices for Hawaii flights. 

According to United Airlines, poor weather conditions have forced it to cancel its Friday flights into and out of Kahului Airport. However, United did increase capacity with two additional Honolulu-San Fransico flights on Thursday. One of the flights used a Boeing 777-300ER, the largest plane in the airline's inventory usually reserved for international long-haul routes. The other flight operated a Boeing 757-300, the largest single-aisles aircraft in the fleet. Together, there were an additional 579 seats available.

Delta also ramped up its Hawaii operations on Thursday with an additional 199 seats via an extra Boeing 757-200. According to the airline, operations are expected to be normal on Friday.

American Airlines initially told Business Insider that it does not expect to cancel any flights due to the hurricane, however, the carrier later told us that weather conditions in Maui have forced it to cancel four flights into and out of Kahului Airport. In addition, some flights will be delayed a few hours due to restrictions that prevent aircraft from taking off and landing during severe cross-winds. 

On Friday, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier expects to operate eight flights into and out of Honolulu, three for Kona, and three for Kauai.

If you have flights booked for travel to and from Hawaii, most major US airlines are currently offering travel waivers that will allow you to alter your reservation for free.

Click here for United's travel waiver information.

Click here for American's travel waiver information.

Click here for Delta's travel waiver information.

Click here for Alaska's travel waiver information.

Click here for Hawaiian's travel waiver information. 

SEE ALSO: Dramatic videos show flooding as Hurricane Lane starts to lash Hawaii

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NOW WATCH: An early bitcoin investor explains what most people get wrong about the cryptocurrency

Bitcoin's daily price volatility has hit an 11-month low, opening doors for a big move, possibly on the higher side.

• Snap was up about 1.5% Friday, and on track to post its first gain in eight trading days.
• Shares have found support near $11.50 over the past couple of trading sessions.
• Follow Snap's stock price in real-time here. 

Snap shares were grinding higher Friday, up about 1.5% at $11.58, and are on track to break their eight-day losing streak.They have been hovering around the $11.50 level over the past few trading sessions. 

The gains, which could be the first positive close since August 13, come two days after Bloomberg Businessweek profiled CEO Evan Spiegel and his efforts to be more personable with his employees, who now number more than 3,000.

"I remember thinking, Why would I go around the company and just chat with people? Like that would be so awkward," he told Bloomberg, adding that his Catholic upbringing taught him to "be a turtle."

But while Spiegel — who has previously come under fire last year for being the highest paid CEO in the US last year — has hired a management coach and attempted to interact more with his workers, Wall Street is looking for more turnaround in the fundamentals before changing its mind.

Just six of the 36 analysts polled by Bloomberg have a "buy" rating on Snap, with an average price target of $11.76.

Shares of the social-media company are now trading more than 5% off their record high, reached shortly after the company's May 2017 initial public offering. They are down 22.75% this year.

Still, Spiegel isn’t fazed, and says there’s plenty of room to grow as other social media giants like Facebook and Twitter sputter.

"I think one of the things that’s been really helpful in maybe the past six months or so is that the contrast is starting to become more clear between our company and the other companies in technology," Spiegel told Bloomberg.

"What I think that people are starting to see is that other companies really are trying to make as much money as possible and really don’t care how that happens."

SEE ALSO: Facebook is coordinating a secret meeting of Silicon Valley giants to combat misinformation ahead of the US midterms

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Bitcoin is everywhere.

The cryptocurrency is seemingly in the news every day as investors and businesses try to understand the future of this digital finance.

But what is Bitcoin all about?

Why is it suddenly on every financial news program?

And what does it mean to you?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in Bitcoin 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence.

To get your copy of the FREE slide deck, simply click here.

Join the conversation about this story »

Bitcoin is everywhere.

The cryptocurrency is seemingly in the news every day as investors and businesses try to understand the future of this digital finance.

But what is Bitcoin all about?

Why is it suddenly on every financial news program?

And what does it mean to you?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in Bitcoin 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence.

To get your copy of the FREE slide deck, simply click here.

Join the conversation about this story »

• An overlooked area of the debt markets has "eerie similarities" to the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis.
• Mark Zandi, the chief economist at the analytics arm of the ratings agency Moody's, argued that rising risk taking and falling standards of underwriting in the corporate bond and leveraged debt space are a big threat.
• The amount of leveraged loans to non-financial companies has now risen to around $1.4 trillion.

Wall Street may have just seen US stocks enter their longest bull market in history, but there are "eerie similarities" between one area of the market and the sub-prime mortgage crisis that triggered the last crash in 2008, according to research from the ratings agency Moody's.

Writing this week, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at the analytics arm of Moody's, argued that rising risk taking and falling standards of underwriting in the corporate bond and leveraged debt space are, at least partially, analogous to what happened in 2007 and 2008.

Noting that we are very much in the midst of the boom period of the business cycle, Zandi argued that such phases are generally characterised by "excessive risk-taking somewhere in the financial system."

"This fuels the boom and is eventually at the center of the subsequent bust," he said. ...

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SEE ALSO: A top JPMorgan strategist shares the one word investors need to know to get ahead in the 'extreme' market

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• President Donald Trump's chances of impeachment, as measured by PredictIt, climbed after he was implicated in federal crimes by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen.
• While JPMorgan thinks an outright impeachment scenario is unlikely, it says the process surrounding it could affect Trump's actions and have a major impact on markets.
• The firm offers hedging recommendations for investors looking to protect their portfolios.

As President Donald Trump finds himself implicated in federal crimes by his former lawyer Michael Cohen, his chances of impeachment have surged — at least according to one source.

The odds that Trump will get impeached during his first term climbed to 45% on Wednesday, the highest in three months, according to data from PredictIt, the "stock market for politics" that allows users to bet on various goings-on in Washington.

In an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Trump was quick to dismiss the possibility of impeachment, which Democrats could pursue if they retake control of the House in November's midterm elections.

He even went as far as to offer a stern warning — one that could have investors everywhere feeling unsettled.

"If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash," he told Ainsley Earhardt of Fox News. "I think everybody would be very poor. ...

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SEE ALSO: The legendary investor who predicted the past 2 bubbles breaks down how the 9-year bull market will end

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• Venezuela is suffering from currency inflation, power cuts, and food shortages.
• As a result, several Venezuelan women are taking up sex work in neighboring Colombia, a Sky News investigation found.
• The investigation, broadcast Friday, found that nearly all the workers in a brothel in a Colombian city near the border were Venezuelans.
• Women who spoke to Sky News said they had no other way of feeding their families as Venezuela's currency is so weak and supplies are so short. 

Several Venezuelan women are taking up sex work in neighboring Colombia because the economic crisis in their country has made it impossible to make a living, a new investigation by Sky News found.

Cúcuta, a Colombian city near the border with Venezuela, is seeing an influx of Venezuelan women who are working in brothels to get by, the Sky News report says.

These women — and many others — have been forced out of Venezuela as the country is in economic ruin, experiencing hyperinflation, severe power cuts, and food and medicine shortages.

Sky News found that out of 60 women in a Cúcuta brothel, two were Colombians, while the rest were Venezuelans. The reporter, Alex Crawford, said one woman charged as little as $33 per client.

"Anything would be better," one woman said. "I do this because I have to do this."

Another woman told Crawford it was the only way she could get money to feed her family.

The women have left Venezuela temporarily and have no formal immigration documents, meaning they can't legally get employment, Sky News said.

Venezuela's economy has been in a tailspin for months, prompting drastic measures from the government. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro lopped five zeros from the bolívar on Monday in an attempt to halt rampant hyperinflation that has pushed a packet of rice to 2.5 million bolívars.

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Cryptocurrency advocate Roger Ver, often referred to as Bitcoin Jesus is having a tough time with the adoption of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). In a report published on Bloomberg, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis says the Bitcoin fork is barely being used in commerce. Bitcoin Cash was forked from Bitcoin over a year ago. At the time,

The post Commercial Use of Bitcoin Cash Payments has Dropped: Analytics Firm appeared first on CCN

• Gold is the worst-performing major asset class of 2018. 
• Michael Hartnett, the chief investment strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the key catalysts that could reverse its decline is a dollar that falls alongside US Treasury yields. 
• Investors are making record bets that yields will continue rising. 
• Watch gold trade in real time here.

Gold investors are having a tough year. 

The precious metal is down 8% so far in 2018, and nearly 14% on an annualized basis — making it the worst-performing major asset class this year according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 

This week, fund managers headed for the exits at a pace not seen since December 2016 as they pulled $1.2 billion out of the precious metal, according to Michael Hartnett, BAML's chief investment strategist. There has been $7 billion in outflows over the past three months, he added. 

Gold has weakened this year alongside many emerging-market currencies because the dollar strengthened and US interest rates became more attractive. On August 13, gold fell below the key technical level of $1,200 an ounce for the first time since early 2017. It traded up 0.7% to $1,202.90 an ounce on Friday.

Gold is usually favored as a safe haven during market turmoil, but even all the back and forth on trade between the US and China has not stirred up a bid for the metal.

But gold "will be bid if US dollar follows US Treasury yields lower," Hartnett said. "Watch for DXY [US dollar index] break below 95." It was down 0.4% to 95.28 on Friday.

Lower US Treasury yields would imply that bond prices are rising, and that's a bet many investors are not making right now. In fact, hedge funds have placed record bets against 10- and 30-year Treasurys, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

This wager has worked out so far this year for speculators, but not for gold traders. The 10-year yield topped 3% in April for the first time since 2014 and has risen by 44 basis points since the start of the year. 

CFTC data further show that investors have not been this doubtful of a gold rally since 2006. Managed money net-long positions on the CME are at the lowest since that year, while net-long positioning turned negative in mid-August for the first time since 2001. 

But with record short positioning comes the risk of a short squeeze, which could propel gold prices higher even faster. According to Hartnett, the fund flows out of gold may be a contrarian signal. 

See also:

• Bank of America names 2 sectors investors should buy in to as the bull market makes history

• Investors have turned complacent and are in danger of being sideswiped by a 'likely correction' that's approaching, Morgan Stanley says
• MOODY'S WARNS: Mutual funds are bleeding cash at an unprecedented rate, and they're increasingly vulnerable to the next market meltdown

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dealt another blow to the possibility of Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETF) after rejecting nine applications on Wednesday.

• Of the nine applications, two were filed by ProShares. The fund, which currently manages assets in the region of $30 billion, planned to issue ETFs to track Bitcoin futures contracts that are traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE). The remaining ETF applications were filed by GraniteShares and Direxion.
• SEC cited fraud and market manipulation concerns as the basis of rejection. In rejecting the applications, the agency referred to the inability of the applicants to prevent manipulative and fraudulent practices that would expose investors. This is similar to the justification it gave when rejecting an ETF application from the Winklevoss twins, the founders of crypto-exchange Gemini.

A crucial driving factor for Bitcoin ETFs is the possibility of attracting greater institutional capital. Given the challenges associated with the physical custody of Bitcoin — which is not a physical commodity like gold, for example — institutional investors have been hesitant to trade cryptos. And with a steady stream of high profile hacks hitting the space, this fear has been further reinforced.

While the introduction of custody solutions, notably by Coinbase, may help subside this fear, ETFs would go further to stem the tide. Along with the prospect of directly increasing the demand for cryptos, their introduction could spur the emergence of options-based products for cryptos and thereby further stimulate activity in the space.

Despite the current decision, ETFs could happen sooner rather than later. The recent announcement of a decision to form the Virtual Commodity Association (VCA), a self-regulatory body that includes major US-based exchanges, suggests that organizations are coming to terms with the SEC’s demands to clean up the space.

This active pursuance of strategies to increase the transparency and surveillance of the market could help bring the SEC on board. And given the pull ETFs will have for big investors, particularly if options on ETFs are traded on futures exchanges as they provide more opportunity for investors to better hedge risks, we could see the space mature quicker.

However, while this is a step in the right direction toward the SEC’s demands, the absence of major exchanges like Coinbase and representatives from non-US exchanges and organizations means there is still heavy lifting to be done.

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• Foot Locker earnings beat on both the top and bottom lines.
• Same-store sales missed Wall Street estimates.
• Watch Foot Locker trade in real time here.

Foot Locker's beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines in the second-quarter, but same-store sales came up short. Shares are little changed in early action on Friday.  

The sneaker retailer earned an adjusted earnings of $0.75 a share — $0.05 ahead of the estimate from Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Foot Locker also said sales increased 4.8% to $1.78 billion, edging out the $1.76 billion that was expected. Excluding the effect of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, total sales for the second quarter increased 3.9%.

The lone blemish was the 0.5% increase in same-store sales, which missed the 0.7% gain that was anticipated.

"Our performance reflects the work we are doing on several fronts to position the Company to succeed in a rapidly evolving retail environment,” CEO Richard Johnson said in the earnings release. 

"We remain optimistic that our improving product flow and depth in premium styles positions us to deliver stronger comparable sales growth in the second half of 2018.”

The company is able to sell products more quickly. In the quarter ended in June, the Company’s merchandise inventories were $1,254 million, 2.8% lower than last year's. 

Foot Locker also said it opened 13 new stores, remodeled or relocated 33 stores, and closed 21 stores in last quarter and now operated more than 3000 stores in 24 countries.

Shares of Foot Locker were up 13.5% this year through Thursday.

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Creditors of the defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox can now start to submit proofs for claiming refunds in the exchange's rehabilitation process.

• An overlooked area of the debt markets has "eerie similarities" to the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis.
• Mark Zandi, the chief economist at the analytics arm of the ratings agency Moody's, argued that rising risk taking and falling standards of underwriting in the corporate bond and leveraged debt space are a big threat.
• The amount of leveraged loans to non-financial companies has now risen to around $1.4 trillion.

Wall Street may have just seen US stocks enter their longest bull market in history, but there are "eerie similarities" between one area of the market and the sub-prime mortgage crisis that triggered the last crash in 2008, according to research from the ratings agency Moody's.

Writing this week, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at the analytics arm of Moody's, argued that rising risk taking and falling standards of underwriting in the corporate bond and leveraged debt space are, at least partially, analogous to what happened in 2007 and 2008.

Noting that we are very much in the midst of the boom period of the business cycle, Zandi argued that such phases are generally characterised by "excessive risk-taking somewhere in the financial system."

"This fuels the boom and is eventually at the center of the subsequent bust," he said.

"Subprime mortgage loans were the obvious culprit a decade ago, runaway internet stocks that pumped up a stock market bubble were the problem in the early-2000s recession, and the savings and loan crisis incited the early 1990s downturn."

Right now, Zandi says, that excessive risk taking is happening within the leveraged-lending space, particularly with regard to non-financial businesses.

"The most serious developing threat to the current cycle is lending to highly leveraged nonfinancial businesses," Zandi wrote.

On the surface things look basically fine. While the ratio of outstanding debt to GDP in the US is at its highest level in history, that is generally believed to reflect a "broadening in the availability of credit to more businesses," and is a trend that has been visible for decades. Zandi also points to the fact that the ratio of debt to business profits is virtually unchanged since the 1980s.

"Businesses appear to be in good shape in aggregate," Zandi says, but there's a sting in the tail in the form of a "significant number of highly leveraged companies are taking on sizable amounts of debt."

This trend, he says, is evident in the rise in volumes of leveraged loans to businesses, which are "setting records." Statistics show "double-digit" annual growth in such loans, with a total value of more than $1.3 trillion.

"Businesses use the loans to finance mergers, acquisitions and leveraged buyouts, followed by refinancing, and to pay for dividends, share repurchases and general expenses," Zandi says.

The ballooning leveraged loans in and of themselves may not be massively troubling, Zandi says, but while the total stock of debt rises, the standards required to get such loans is also falling.

"To meet the strong demand for leveraged loans from the CLO [collateralized loan obligation] market, lenders are easing their underwriting standards," Zandi writes.

"According to the Federal Reserve’s survey of senior loan officers at commercial banks, a net 15% of respondents say they lowered their standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and medium-size companies this quarter compared with the previous quarter."

This combination, he adds, has only really occurred once before: just before the financial crisis.

"The only other time loan officers eased as aggressively on a consistent basis was at the height of the euphoria leading up the financial crisis in the mid-2000s," he writes.

Lowering standards for underwriting of loans are also evident in another area of the debt markets — the junk corporate bond space.

"The junk market hasn’t kept pace with the surging leveraged loan market, but it is nearly as big, with more than $1.3 trillion in outstandings," Zandi said.

In total, that's close to $2.7 trillion of debt being hit by falling underwriting standards, close to the value of the sub-prime mortgage market pre-crisis. "Consider that subprime mortgage debt outstanding was close to $3 trillion at its peak prior to the financial crisis," Zandi said.

"Insatiable demand by global investors for residential mortgage securities drove the demand for subprime mortgages, inducing lenders to steadily lower their underwriting standards."

Ultimately, he concludes, it is "much too early to conclude that nonfinancial businesses will end the current cycle in the way subprime mortgage borrowers did the previous one," but warns there are "eerie similarities."

SEE ALSO: A top JPMorgan strategist shares the one word investors need to know to get ahead in the 'extreme' market

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NOW WATCH: An early bitcoin investor explains what most people get wrong about the cryptocurrency

The Bitcoin price has increased to $6,550 over the past 24 hours, as the crypto market recorded a solid recovery. Tokens like ICON demonstrated 10 to 30 percent gains. Theta Token, Gas, CyberMiles, Nano, Lisk, PIVX, and ICON are the best performers of August 24, with Theta Token recording a massive 44 percent increase in … Continued

The post Crypto Market Rises to $210 Billion, Tokens Like ICON See Large Gains appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin charts continue to call a bullish move at a time when the short positions are near record highs.

Here is what you need to know.

Jerome Powell speaks at Jackson Hole. But three of the world's most important central bankers — the European Central Bank's president, Mario Draghi; the Bank of England's governor, Mark Carney; and the Bank of Japan's governor, Haruhiko Kuroda — won't be in attendance.

China takes another step toward opening its financial markets. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission on Friday scrapped foreign ownership limits for banks and bad-debt managers, Bloomberg says.

Turkey's economic crisis has gone off the radar — but there's a huge chance it could get a whole lot worse. The recent 25% plunge in the value of the Turkish lira has caused credit growth to slow sharply, posing a significant risk to the country's economy, the HSBC economist Melis Metiner says.

A 'boogeyman in the housing market' is said to be making it tougher for Americans to own homes. Americans are spending the most money in almost a decade on mortgage payments as a share of their income, according to Morgan Stanley.

A major Tesla investor is urging Elon Musk not to take the company private. ARK Investment Management — which owns 580,000 shares of Tesla, worth roughly $163.84 million — says that Tesla's stock price could be worth $4,000 a share but that it'll never get there on private markets.

Gap stumbles as same-store sales see a bigger-than-expected drop. Shares fell nearly 7% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the retailer said same-store sales in the second quarter fell 5%, worse then the 2.55% drop that was expected, Reuters reports.

Eventbrite is going public. The ticketing website didn't say how much money it hoped to raise but did say it would use the proceeds from an initial public offering to increase its capitalization and financial flexibility and to pay off its debt, which stands at $66.36 million, according to an S-1 filing out Thursday.

Stock markets around the world are higher. Japan's Nikkei (+0.85%) posted solid gains in Asia, and Britain's FTSE (+0.22%) leads in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.23% near 2,863.

Earnings reporting is light. Foot Locker reports ahead of the opening bell.

US economic data trickles out. Durable-goods orders are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.84%.

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• Home sales in the US are slowing, and the boogeyman is affordability. 
• Americans are spending the most money in almost a decade on mortgage payments as a share of their incomes, according to Morgan Stanley. 
• Economists have been expecting home prices to eventually slow, but the market isn't budging. 

More evidence of a slowdown in the housing market came through this week.

The latest data on sales of new and existing homes slowed more than economists had expected for a second straight month. During three quarters out of the past four, there was a decline in residential investment, which includes construction and brokers' fees.

Since the rest of the economy — particularly the job market — is in solid shape, it's not the unwilling of buyers that's slowing housing down. 

"If there's a boogeyman in the housing market today, it's affordability," James Egan, Morgan Stanley's co-head of US housing strategy, said in a note on Thursday. By one measure — the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home-Price Index — housing costs have jumped 21% since they bottomed after the recession in February 2012. 

"As home prices and mortgage rates have risen, it logically follows that homes have become less affordable."

The chart below offers proof of how much strain the housing market is creating. It shows that Americans are paying the most in monthly mortgage payments relative to their incomes since 2008. And it's no wonder a University of Michigan survey of consumers earlier this month found that home prices were deemed the least favorable in 12 years. 

"The only housing market indicator that has moved decisively higher in 2018 has been prices: Everything else is flat," Aaron Terrazas, a senior economist at Zillow, said.  

Egan has more sour news: He doesn't expect prices to fall, although he thinks the rate of growth may slow. That's still not happening for most of the market, however. In June, the CoreLogic index showed that home prices rose at the fastest annual rate in four years and have not fallen for 14 straight months. 

Still, it's more likely a matter of when, not if affordability improves. Price growth is already slowing in the luxury housing market, where there aren't as many people giving competing offers to sellers, according to Zillow. 

"We believe that the current supply and demand environment will continue to push home prices higher, just at a decelerating pace," Egan said. 

Another promising thing, particularly for those worried about another housing crisis, is that lending standards are much tighter than during the most recent housing bubble. According to TransUnion, the share of homeowners who made mortgage payments more than 60 days past the due date fell to 1.7% in the second quarter, the lowest since the housing crisis.

However, fewer qualified people are choosing to take out mortgages.

"This shift is likely due to a combination of historically tight underwriting standards coupled with rising home prices putting pressure on home affordability, particularly at the entry-home level," Joe Mellman, a mortgage business leader at TransUnion, said.  

"In fact, homeownership rates continue to remain far below recent historical averages."

See also:

• Bank of America names 2 sectors investors should buy in to as the bull market makes history

• Investors have turned complacent and are in danger of being sideswiped by a 'likely correction' that's approaching, Morgan Stanley says
• MOODY'S WARNS: Mutual funds are bleeding cash at an unprecedented rate, and they're increasingly vulnerable to the next market meltdown

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• Mark Carney, Mario Draghi and Haruhiko Kuroda are all missing from the list of attendees at this years central banker meeting at the remote mountain resort of Jackson Hole.
• The news comes alongside confirmation that none of the ECB’s executive board members will make the trip to the annual central bankers meeting headed by the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

ECB president Mario Draghi, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and the Bank of Japan's Haruhiko Kuroda are all missing from the list of attendees at this year's annual central bankers meeting on monetary policy at Jackson Hole in the United States.

News of Draghi’s absence comes alongside confirmation that none of the ECB’s executive board members will make the trip to Kansas City Fed’s annual retreat for central bankers at the remote mountain resort in Wyoming, Bloomberg reported.

An ECB spokesperson told Business Insider that there was "no particular reason" for their absence.

The Bank of England will be represented at the conference by chief economist Andy Haldane.

This years meeting will be led for the first time by new Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and will focus on the "Changing Market Structure and Implications for Monetary Policy." The event allows the world's monetary policymakers to meet behind closed doors and discuss the big issues of the day away from the glare of politicians, the public and the media.

This meeting will be held against a backdrop of a strong US and, broadly speaking, global economy,  concerns over the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington, and the ongoing crisis in Turkey.

Tensions are also running high between US President Donald Trump and the Fed after frequent criticisms of its interest rate hikes, while another rate hike is expected to be confirmed at Jackson Hole.

Trump has directed anger at the Fed for raising interest rates as the US economy has picked up.

In July he tweeted: "The United States should not be penalized because we are doing so well. Tightening now hurts all that we have done. The U.S. should be allowed to recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals. Debt coming due & we are raising rates - Really?"

On Friday, Powell will deliver the set piece speech of the conference which will be a focus for investors as they listen for confirmation of another interest rate increase.

"The Jackson Hole summer camp for economists begins today," Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS' wealth management arm said in his daily email.

"Fed Chair Powell is of course a lawyer, not an economist – which raises the question of whether a lawyer should attend a summer camp for economists.

"Powell's speech will probably have been written by someone with an economics degree, so that will make it worth listening to."

Minutes released from the Fed's last meeting on Wednesday showed that despite objections from the president, it is on course to increase rates in September.

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• News out of Turkey about its stuttering economy has slowed over the past few days, but major issues remain.
• After the collapse of the lira, HSBC's Melis Metiner is now warning of another thread to the country's fragile economy.
• Credit growth in both the commercial and domestic sectors is slowing sharply, likely presaging a significant weakening in growth going forward.

After the flare-up in Turkey which saw its currency drop 25% in a week, major tensions with the US, and even talk of its entire economy collapsing, things appear to have quietened down over the past few days, as the country settles in to try and solve its problems.

Just because things have calmed down, however, doesn't mean Turkey is out of the woods yet, and a recent note from HSBC shows just why.

Writing to clients this week, HSBC's Melis Metiner, an economist for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said that there are still several signs that things could get worse before they get better in the stricken nation.

The big issue, Metiner says, is the fact that growth in people and businesses being given credit is so low.

"A look at recently released data shows that a more challenging external backdrop and TRY [the Turkish lira] weakness and volatility have dragged credit growth lower," Metiner wrote.

"Consumer loan growth has slowed from around 20% in the middle of last year to 14% in annualized terms," she continued.

"The slowdown in commercial loan growth has been much more marked, with the annualised pace falling below zero in mid-August, the slowest pace since 2009."

"Total loan growth, as a result, has slowed to around 4% in annualised terms, the slowest pace seen since 2015."

The chart below illustrates that sharp slowdown (in this case in domestic credit):

While too much credit can be a negative for an economy, as borrowers overstretch themselves leading to possible defaults, credit helps to allow households to spend, and companies to invest in their businesses. If credit slows too sharply, the subsequent lack of investment can lead to slowing economic growth.

Metiner believes this could manifest itself in Turkey, saying that slowing growth in credit "is set to weigh on Turkey’s growth, especially private investment."

The natural response to such a slowdown, Metiner notes, would be for the Turkish central bank to raise interest rates in order to fuel spending. "We believe further policy tightening and a prolonged period of tight policy are both warranted."

She also notes, however, the reticence of the Erdogan administration to allow such moves. Erdogan himself is staunchly opposed to high interest rates, and once publicly described them as "evil."

SEE ALSO: Turkey’s turmoil blew a $19 million hole in one trader’s account — here are the winners and losers from the crisis

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Bitcoin cash devs are fighting over what code changes to make next. If no one compromises, hard-forked coin could itself split into two.

• Porsche built a single brand-new 993-generation 911 Turbo dubbed Project Gold.
• The 993 was the last generation of the Porsche 911 sports car to be powered by air-cooled engines.
• The Project Gold Porsche 911 will be powered by a 450 horsepower, twin-turbocharged flat-six from the 993 Turbo S.
• Porsche will auction off the Project Gold 911 in October with proceeds going to charity.

The air-cooled Porsche 911 Turbo remains one of the all-time great sports cars two decades after the last one rolled out of the company's plant in Stuttgart, Germany. The 993, the final generation of the 911 to use air-cooled engines, remains one of the most sought-after Porsches in the world. With two-decade-old 911 Turbos fetching upwards of $200,000. 

Now, Porsche is bringing back its old warhorse for one more tour of duty to celebrate the sports car maker's 70th anniversary. 

Porsche Classic, the division within the brand that handles out-of-production models, decided to build a single brand new 993 911 Turbo dubbed Project Gold for its Golden Yellow Metallic paint scheme.

The Project Gold 911 was assembled and tuned over a period of a year-and-a-half by specialists at the Porsche Classics workshop near the company's headquarters in Stuttgart. The Turbo's manual transmission and all-wheel-drive system are both sourced from Porsche Classic's part bin while the chassis number follows that of the last street-legal 993 Turbo produced in 1998. 

Even though the Project Gold 911 is classified by Porsche as a 993 Turbo, it is powered by a 3.6 liter, 450 horsepower twin-turbocharged, flat-six cylinder engine from the 993 Turbo S. 

Sadly for Porsche aficionados, there will only be one Project Gold 993 Turbo produced. However, it will be up for grabs on October 27 when it hits the auction block in Atlanta through RM Sotheby's.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Ferry Porsche Foundation which is a new charity dedicated to education, social issues, and youth development. 

So in other words, buy this Porsche and help make the world a better place. 

SEE ALSO: BMW just unveiled its long-awaited Z4 sports car and it's beautiful

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• The Audi PB18 e-tron electric concept sports car made its world debut on Thursday at Pebble Beach in Monterey, California.
• The electric concept is powered by three electric motors that can develop up to 764 horsepower.
• Audi's concept is equipped with a 95 kWh battery pack that gives it a range of more than 310 miles.
• The PB18 e-tron also features a unique sliding cockpit that can shift within the cabin. 

Every year, for a week in August, the glitz and glam of the automotive elite descend upon the streets of Monterey, California,

Traditionally, Pebble Beach has been an opportunity for the rich and famous to see and be seen among a sea of automotive exotica. These days things are a bit different. The exotic cars are still there, but it's also developed into another auto show for manufacturers to exhibit their latest and greatest.

On Thursday, Audi did just that with the introduction of its new PB18 e-tron concept sports car. It's a futuristic technology demonstrator created especially for Pebble Beach. In fact, the "PB" in its name stands for Pebble Beach.

The rest of its name is in reference to Audi's all-conquering R18 e-tron Le Mans prototype race cars.

The PB18's stand out feature is a driver's pod complete with integrated pedals, steering wheel, controls, that can be slid laterally inside the cabin. When on a race track, the driver's compartment can be positioned in the center of the cockpit like that of an open-wheel race car. 

"We want to offer the driver an experience that is otherwise available only in a racing car like the Audi R18," Audi Design Loft boss Gael Buzyn said in a statement. "That’s why we developed the interior around the ideal driver’s position in the center."

However, the compartment can also be slid to the side to create a traditional road car setup that also allows for a passenger thanks to an integrated seat mounted low in the cabin. 

As with every Audi to carry the e-tron moniker, the PB18 e-tron is all electric. The Audi concept is powered by a trio of electric motors — one up front and two in the back. The motors send roughly 200 horsepower to the front wheels and a whopping 600 hp to the rear. Thus creating a virtual quattro all-wheel-drive system.

Working together, the motors develop 670 hp that can be temporarily boosted to 764 hp. Sadly, you can't simply add up the output of the front and rear motors. 

According to Audi, 0-62 mph can happen in about two seconds. 

The PB18 e-tron is equipped with a 95 kWh liquid-cooled, solid-state battery that, Audi claims, can be fully recharged in 15 minutes. The pack also gives the PB18 a range of more than 310 miles on a single charge. 

SEE ALSO: BMW just unveiled its long-awaited Z4 sports car and it's beautiful

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• Fire crews responded to a fire that erupted near the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, on Thursday afternoon.
• Local news media showed an unidentified building engulfed in flames.
• The Fremont Fire Department said the flames started in a "cardboard pile," threatening an outside structure.

Fire crews in Fremont, California, responded to a fire that erupted near the Tesla factory on Thursday afternoon.

The Fremont Fire Department said the flames started in a cardboard pile around 8:20 p.m. ET, on the southern end of Tesla's property, igniting some grass and an unidentified building.

Aerial video from local news outlets showed firefighters dousing the flames with water. Another video showed a building engulfed in flames. A Tesla spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

The fire was contained by 9:00 p.m., but firefighters remained on site to make sure there was no further threat, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Here's some video from the scene:

This story is developing. Updates to come.

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• The production version of the Jaguar E-type Zero was unveiled Thursday evening in Monterey, California at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
• Meghan Markle and Prince Harry drove a prototype version of the Jaguar E-type Zero away from their May 2018 royal wedding reception.  
• "E-type Zero showcases the incredible heritage of the E-type, and the expertise and craftsmanship at Classic Works," Jaguar Land Rover Classic's Director Tim Hannig said in a statement.  

The production version of the Jaguar E-Type Zero was unveiled Thursday evening in Monterey, California at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

"E-type Zero showcases the incredible heritage of the E-type, and the expertise and craftsmanship at Classic Works, while demonstrating Jaguar Land Rover's dedication to creating zero emission vehicles across every part of the business, including Jaguar Classic,"  Tim Hannig, Jaguar Land Rover's classic director, said in a statement. 

Combining restoration expertise with the zero-emissions technology that made Jaguar's I-PACE SUV so successful, the new E-type Zero will be a custom-made car restored to be an environmentally friendly electric vehicle. 

These specified restoration and conversion jobs will be done at Jaguar's Classic Works facility in Coventry, U.K., which handled Jaguar E-type Reborn restorations.  

The E-type Zero will use an electric powertrain battery pack that is similar in weight and dimensions to the departing gasoline engine and transmission. This similarity will ensure a smooth conversion, as neither the car's suspension nor brakes will be changed, keeping the driving and handling experience the same as the original E-type. The electric vehicle conversion is fully reversible. 

According to Jaguar Land Rover, the E-type Zero will have a quicker acceleration than the original Series 1 E-Type.  The car targets a driving range in excess of 170 miles prior to charge and will be powered by a 40kWh battery that should only take six to seven hours to be recharged, depending on the power source. 

The Jaguar E-Type Zero first gained publicity when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle drove away from their May 19, 2018 wedding reception in a prototype version of the vehicle. 

There are no pricing details yet because each car is uniquely made and assembled from a previous model. Jaguar Land Rover anticipates deliveries of the first electric E-type vehicles to start in the summer of 2020. 

SEE ALSO: Infiniti just revealed a new electric sports car concept and it's simply beautiful

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin ETFs are continuing to be rejected by regulators, but time may be on the side of innovators.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.