The Intuition Finance Digest Intuition Publishing (www.intuition.com)

Inflation dynamics across developed economies are
diverging. US inflation data has come in “hot” so far in 2024, but inflation in Europe has eased, falling short of expectations. While the Fed is opting to look through the data for now and sticking to its guidance for policy easing to start this year, any further bad data will test the Fed and the markets. The ECB appears to be facing no such dilemma, with easing expected to start in earnest in June, though the divergence itself is a potential obstacle.

Since the launch of ChatGPT-3 in June 2020, AI has captured the public imagination in a manner like no technological development since the Internet. The widespread availability of ChatGPT-3 and subsequent
enhanced versions, along with a constant stream of other AI products coming to market, seem to be heralding the dawn of an AI-powered economy and society. The reaction has been mixed, with optimism regarding the productivity gains that AI brings tempered by fears about the disruption and displacement of vast swathes of the economy.

This article delves into the impact of ETFs on Bitcoin's price, explore previous instances of price surges due to ETF expectations, analyze the recent launches of Bitcoin
ETFs, and discuss other factors contributing to Bitcoin's recent surge.

Toward the end of 2023, two US-based broker-dealers were subjected to multi-million dollar penalties levied by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on grounds of failure to provide “best execution” to their customers. The timing of these sanctions coincided with the introduction by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Regulation Best Execution (Reg NMS Rule 606) – the first regulation specifically targeting best execution, as the SEC increases its scrutiny of the actions of broker-dealers in light of their customer obligations.

The world increased its global renewable energy capacity in 2023 by around 500 gigawatts (GW) to over 4,000 GW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). While this rate of growth in capacity (50% higher than in 2022) – the fastest in two decades – appears impressive, the same agency warned that the increase is insufficient to achieve last year’s COP28 goal of tripling renewable power capacity by 2030. 

The imminent launch by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of a T+1 settlement regime for US securities is set to reduce risk but also pose challenges – especially for market participants and regulators in other jurisdictions that, for the time being, retain a longer settlement cycle and may be forced to follow the US lead in due course.