Market wrap: US equities muted amid tariff news, gold hits near record high, digital assets is the future

Market wrap: US equities muted amid tariff news, gold hits near record high, digital assets is the future

The economic landscape of the past week has been shaped by a complex interplay of policy announcements, market reactions, and strategic corporate moves, all set against a backdrop of global uncertainty. At the forefront of these developments was President Trump’s indication of imposing tariffs on automobile, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical imports, potentially starting from April 2nd. This move, ostensibly aimed at encouraging foreign manufacturers to invest in US production facilities, could have profound implications, particularly for industries where international supply chains are deeply integrated.

The automobile sector, already navigating through the challenges of electrification and autonomous driving, now faces the added complexity of potential tariff hikes. For European carmakers like Volkswagen and BMW, and Asian giants like Toyota and Hyundai, the implications are stark. The tariffs could increase the cost of vehicles for US consumers, potentially dampening demand, or push these companies towards establishing or expanding manufacturing operations in the US This shift, while beneficial for local job creation, comes with its own set of challenges, including high setup costs, cultural integration, and the need for skilled labor. Moreover, the environmental impact of such a move could be significant, considering the carbon footprint associated with new production setups.

Despite these looming threats, US equity markets showed a tempered response. The MSCI US index managed a slight increase of 0.3 per cent, with gains predominantly in Energy and Materials sectors, suggesting perhaps an anticipation of benefits from increased domestic production or from sectors less directly impacted by the tariffs. However, this muted market reaction might also indicate a ‘wait-and-see’ approach from investors, expecting either negotiations or modifications to the tariff policy before its full implementation.

The Federal Reserve’s stance, as articulated by various officials, was to maintain current interest rates, reflecting a cautious approach to monetary policy amidst these trade uncertainties. Yet, the market’s expectation for a rate cut by September, as priced into futures, shows an underlying belief that the Fed might eventually need to counteract any adverse economic effects of these tariffs, like inflation or a slowdown in consumer spending. This is mirrored by a rise in the 10-year US Treasury yield to 4.55 per cent, suggesting a market adjusting to new realities of potentially higher inflation or a stronger dollar, which indeed rose by 0.5 per cent to above 107.

Gold’s steady hold near record highs, with a 1.4 per cent increase, underscores the market’s search for safety amid these geopolitical and trade tensions. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil’s recovery after OPEC+’s suggestion to delay supply increases could signal a tighter oil market, which might benefit energy companies but also stir inflation concerns.

In Asia, the economic narrative was somewhat divergent. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate cut to 4.10 per cent was a move to stimulate an economy facing external pressures, yet it came with warnings against expecting too much from further monetary easing. In China, the decline in the CSI300 index by 0.9 per cent reflected ongoing concerns about economic stability and the impact of US trade policies. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index’s initial gains fizzled out, pointing to a cautious optimism regarding government support for the private sector.

Turning to the digital economy, significant movements are afoot in the cryptocurrency space. Robinhood Markets’ planned expansion into Singapore through Bitstamp, an exchange it acquired for US$200 million, highlights a strategic push into Asia’s burgeoning crypto market. This move not only aims at leveraging Bitstamp’s regulatory and institutional strengths but also reflects a broader trend of integrating cryptocurrencies into mainstream finance, albeit with careful consideration of regulatory landscapes.

Hong Kong’s proactive stance on digital assets was vividly illustrated at the Coindesk Consensus Hong Kong 2025 conference, where the CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission, Julia Leung, outlined plans for new crypto products like derivatives and margin lending. This aligns with Hong Kong’s ambition to become a leading center for digital assets, especially post the 2021 crypto ban in mainland China. The issuance of nine digital asset trading licenses, with more applications in review, and the drafting of stablecoin regulations, all point towards a strategic pivot to capitalise on the global crypto boom.

From my perspective, these developments are indicative of a world where traditional economic structures are being challenged by new policies and technological advancements. The potential tariffs could lead to a reconfiguration of global supply chains, impacting not just trade but also environmental and employment policies. The Fed’s cautious approach to interest rates reflects a delicate balancing act between supporting growth and controlling inflation. Meanwhile, the rise of digital assets in regulated markets like Hong Kong and Singapore signifies a shift towards a more tech-driven financial ecosystem, where regulation will play a crucial role in shaping market dynamics.

This economic juncture requires companies and investors to be agile, adapting not just to policy changes but also to technological innovations. The interplay between these economic, regulatory, and technological shifts will continue to define the strategies and fortunes of businesses worldwide, making this a critical time for strategic foresight and adaptability.

Source: https://e27.co/market-wrap-us-equities-muted-amid-tariff-news-gold-hits-near-record-high-digital-assets-is-the-future-20250219/

 

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

j j j

Private Market News – 2/2/24 by Securitize

Private Market News – 2/2/24 by Securitize
Thanks, Securitize, for featuring my article on #RWA in the newsletter.

Private Market News – 2/2/24

This week’s highlights: Jamie Finn shares his thoughts on investing in private equity, Securitize Japan makes headlines with a new partnership, Morgan Stanley has big plans for private credit, and tokenized RWAs continue to gain momentum.


Jamie Finn on Investing in Private Equity

In this video, Securitize co-founder and president Jamie H. Finn explores the reasons to consider investing in private equity, what you need to invest in private equity, and how Securitize can help you invest in this growing market.

Watch Now

Source: Securitize


Securitize partners with Japan’s DeCurret for tokenized deposit settlement

Securitize Japan has recently partnered with DeCurrent, the firm that runs Japan’s Digital Currency Form, which involves over 100 Japanese firms including four banks. This collaboration aims to settle security token transactions using bank-tokenized deposits.

Read More

Source: Ledger Insights


Morgan Stanley plans to double private credit portfolio to $50 bln

The asset management division of Morgan Stanleyplans to double its private credit portfolio to $50 billion. The business has already gathered around $25 billion in total assets, primarily from institutional investors, after the bank invested more than $300 million into the endeavor.

Read More

Source: Reuters, Tatiana Bautzer, Saeed Azhar


Why RWA Tokenization Is Taking Off

As the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) continues to expand, governments and investors alike are now more widely accepting the role of tokenization in the future of investing, especially given the blockchain’s potential to reduce fraud and increase traceability.

Read More

Source: Techopedia, Anndy Lian

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

j j j

Why Competition Between NFT Marketplaces Is Good News

Why Competition Between NFT Marketplaces Is Good News

While crypto is in a bear market the one sector that has weathered the storm relatively well is NFTs. A new report estimates the global NFT market will be worth $231 billion by 2030, growing at a compounded growth rate of 33.7% over the next eight years. However, this quarter the NFT market has been on somewhat of a roller-coaster ride, though in terms of trading volume and sales compared to Q2 of 2021 they are up by 533% and 59% respectively. In addition, metaverse NFTs also had a good quarter, with the trading volume for ETH-based collections has increased by 101%, while Polygon collections have unfortunately declined by 26%. Overall, it has been a growth of 96%, according to DappRadar.

If that positive trend whets your appetite to get involved in NFTs trading, then you’re not alone. The recent crypto bull market was like an electromagnet for investors who flocked to NFTs. Either to try to get in early by getting whitelisted on a project and then sell once the particular project went live, or purchasing them from another user before selling them on one of the growing number of marketplaces. As reported in late 2021 by leading crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, “NFTs are far from a surefire investment” however: “Transaction data from the OpenSea marketplace shows that just 28.5% of NFTs purchased during minting and then sold on the platform result in a profit. Buying NFTs on the secondary market from other users and flipping them, however, leads to profit 65.1%of the time.” In plain English what this means is that your average NFT buyer is likely to be out of luck when it comes to turning a profit on a newly minted or a secondary market NFT trade.

If those headline figures haven’t put you off, what can help you can see the wood for the trees when it comes to trading NFTs? A little context might help for starters; namely the commercial pressure from the bear market and the competition between NFT marketplaces mean this could be a good time to up your NFT trading game.

NFTs are traded in NFT marketplaces, which are well-organized platforms for selling digital collectibles. As a rule of thumb NFTs are sold at a fixed price, while others are auctioned off. Opensea is by far the largest NFT marketplace, with a 90% market share by dollar trading volume across multiple marketplaces in 2021. But what’s changed in the last few months is that OpenSea’s market share has started to diminish. In response OpenSea has improved its service with the launch of Seaport, an open-source trading protocol which enables trading multiple NFTs at a time. And with OpenSea’s purchase of NFT market aggregator Gem, its likely they will go up against Uniswap, which recently acquired NFT aggregator platform Genie. Finally, despite the failure of Coinbase’s NFT offering, eBay has both purchased marketplace KnownOrigin and in partnership with OneOf, recently announced its first foray into the NFT space with the launch of a series of sports themed, featuring iconic athletes.

What hasn’t changed is the fact that most NFTs are released in collections. A collection is a group of NFTs that are all different but share some characteristics. Bored Ape, the most popular NFT collection, has a total sales value of approximately $2.5 billion. While the top ten NFT collections had over $15 billion in trading value in 2021, accounting for roughly 60% of the total NFT market. The fact that a few collections dominated a large portion of the market is most likely due to NFT investors’ preference to trade within collections. They do this because it is easier to value an NFT in a collection when there are “similar” NFTs to compare it to. Experienced investors know where the money is, therefore, they trade NFTs within those collections.

These NFT traders speculate and identify a specific collection with liquidity, trade, and keep flipping until they make a profit. The truth is that most speculative traders do not profit from trading NFTs. Information is key, and traders who have information on the collection with liquidity are more likely to make a profit. Instant tradability of non-fungible tokens will lead to higher liquidity. NFT marketplaces can cater to a variety of audiences—from hardcore traders to more novice players—allowing for greater exposure of the assets to a wider pool of buyers. In the same way that the ICO boom of 2017 gave birth to a new asset class driven by instantly liquid tokens, NFTs expand the market for unique digital assets.

Another factor we must consider is fraud in the NFT sector. We’ve seen a lot of bad actors sell and trade NFTs they don’t own or have access to. I believe that it is critical for every NFT trader to conduct their own research to determine the best collection to trade. In simple terms the NFT sector is still growing, and there are still certain gaps to fill.

Market liquidity is still concentrated in a few NFT collections, and a trader must be able to identify those collections where the demand is to make a profit. I am also about to publish an in-depth guide to NFTs in a new book, said I believe the NFT market was only going to get stronger in 2022. “The growth of NFTs on rival platforms to Ethereum such as Solana , and the competition with OpenSea from players ranging from DEX leader Uniswap to e-commerce king eBay, shows how dynamic this sector is. Despite the collapse of the wider crypto market with the Luna Terra collapse, the demand for NFTs shows no stopping. I was struck also by how GameStop’s new marketplace launched just a couple of days ago is already doing well, with ETH in trading volume too.”

 

Original Source: https://www.benzinga.com/22/08/28375889/why-competition-between-nft-marketplaces-is-good-news

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

j j j