The amount of debt wrapped by bond insurance fell 23% in 2022, but industry bond insurance penetration remained at the 8% level, well above pre-pandemic levels. All municipal bond insurers wrapped $28.884 billion in 2022, a decrease from the $37.524 billion insured in 2021, according to Refinitiv data. The lower insurance volume resulted from the overall
Total 2022 municipal bond sale volume plunged 19.5% from 2021, as issuers were flush with cash and rising interest rates stymied refundings and taxable issuances. Continued market volatility, inflation hitting four-decade highs, and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions kept issuers on the sidelines. Total volume in 2022 was $389.094 billion in
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made an unlikely celebrity of Professor John Mearsheimer. His 2015 lecture — “Why is Ukraine the West’s fault? — has now racked up 28mn views on YouTube. In that lecture, and in later articles and talks, the University of Chicago academic argued that the west had provoked a war in
According to a report published on Feb. 12, 2023, the New York-based financial institution and technology company, Paxos, has received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding alleged violations of investor protection laws. Paxos revealed the following day that it would no longer mint BUSD and it was ending its
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s whirlwind tour of European capitals last week to press allies for modern, long-range weapons was only partly successful. Ukraine’s president extracted a pledge from the UK to start training Ukrainian fighter pilots. Britain also made a vague offer of “long-range capabilities”. France, Germany and other allies in the EU were less forthcoming, rebuffing
Individuals are expected to pay income tax on gains from cryptocurrency trading, the tax authority of Bosnia has determined. In the absence of dedicated regulations, the federal government in Sarajevo has set up a working group to assess various risks associated with digital assets. Income Tax Is Due on Profits From Crypto Trades, Bosnia Tax
China has accused the US of flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times last year, and of conducting hundreds of reconnaissance missions, as the aerial surveillance dispute between the two nations takes their ties to a new low. Beijing’s accusations came after the US shot down what it said was a Chinese
Receding trade and growth worries, and rising geopolitical uncertainties have sent aerospace & defense stocks higher. IShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF: https://www.zacks.com/funds/etf/ITA/profile?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF: https://www.zacks.com/funds/etf/XAR/profile?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF: https://www.zacks.com/funds/etf/PPA/profile?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID Boeing: https://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/BA?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID Lockheed Martin: https://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/LMT?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID United Technologies: https://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/BA?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID Raytheon: https://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/RTN?cid=CS-YOUTUBE-FT-VID Follow us on StockTwits: http://stocktwits.com/ZacksResearch Follow us on Twitter:
The Philippines has accused China of targeting one of its coast guard vessels with a military-grade laser in the South China Sea, as Beijing’s almost-constant presence in the contested waters raises regional tensions. The Chinese coast guard ship directed the laser at the BRP Malapascua twice on February 6, “causing temporary blindness to [the] crew
Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., has stated that the staking services offered on its platform do not constitute securities. The statements, made in the wake of the $30 million settlement that Kraken, another U.S.-based crypto exchange, completed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also criticize the institution’s approach
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has reportedly ordered blockchain company Paxos Trust to stop the issuance of dollar-pegged Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin. The New York regulator’s actions come shortly after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a wells notice to Paxos — a letter the regulator uses to tell companies of
Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week just under $22,000 as bulls fail to reclaim lost ground in February. After modest volatility toward the weekly close, BTC/USD is still near three-week lows as a new status quo enters with $22,000 as resistance. However, the largest cryptocurrency stands at the beginning of an important week of macroeconomic
Software giant Microsoft is shutting down one of its most significant groups dedicated to the development and promotion of the industrial metaverse. According to reports, the company terminated its whole Industrial Metaverse Core group, which was composed of 100 employees, as part of the 10,000-person layoff rounds announced in January. Microsoft Reportedly Terminating Industrial Metaverse
Recently reported planned enforcement action against Paxos by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over Binance USD (BUSD) has many in the community questioning how the regulator could see a stablecoin as a security. Blockchain lawyers told Cointelegraph that while the answer isn’t black and white, there exists an argument for it if the stablecoin
A leading Conservative business figure has quit the party after almost 40 years, citing the party’s alleged “f*** business” attitude and willingness to put vulnerable groups on the front line of a culture war. Iain Anderson, founder of the Cicero public relations group and named “LGBT business champion” in Boris Johnson’s government in September 2021,
Investors joining Amazon’s earning call earlier this month were greeted with a surprise guest: the group’s chief executive, Andy Jassy. Unlike Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg or Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, it is rare that an Amazon chief executive — whether Jassy or his predecessor Jeff Bezos — puts himself up for the quarterly session
A new study on digital currency-related lawsuits since 2018 shows a 42% increase in crypto lawsuits in 2022. The highest number of claims in a single year was recorded last year, with 41 total claims in the United States. The research also shows that the majority of lawsuits came from the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has now made at least two substantial contributions to help the victims of last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The Turkey-Syria 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Feb. 6. Its death toll has now risen to 33,000 — one of the world’s worst in decades. Over the week, the Ethereum
A crackdown by the United States securities regulator on crypto staking could have unintended consequences for decentralized finance, according to the head of business development at Lido DAO. Jacob Blish — who leads business development at Lido’s decentralized autonomous organization — told Bloomberg in a Feb. 13 report that the most significant risk would be if the SEC
What’s the best language through which to understand the complex events of the world today? Is it economic? Political? Cultural? I’ve begun to think it might be psychological. Psychologists (at least many of those I know) tend to divide the world up into two types of personalities: paranoids, who operate as if they are always
Umm Anwar fled Syria for a new life in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep. When, early last Monday, the rundown apartment block she now calls home began to shake uncontrollably, she found herself jolted back to her previous life. “I felt like I was back in Syria under the bombs,” said the mother of