Economy News

Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management discusses recent protests against China's zero-Covid policy and how the government might handle them.

Nik Bhatia, founder of The Bitcoin Layer, discusses the collapse of BlockFi.

Uncertainty on Russian oil price cap will create more volatility Analyst

Confidence is quickly eroding in the crypto sector, as it faces a wave of bankruptcies and investigations into Sam Bankman-Fried and his failed exchange, FTX, for losing and misspending billions of dollars in user deposits. But Didi Taihuttu; his wife, Romaine; three daughters, and Teddy, a Pomeranian puppy they adopted in Portugal last year, are as confident as ever in their bet on bitcoin — they’re just changing how they store it. Ever since liquidating all of their assets and buying bitcoin in 2017 back when it was trading at around $900, the Taihuttus have safeguarded their crypto riches in three main places: centralized exchanges, or CEXs, such as Bybit and Kraken; decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, such as Uniswap; and hardware wallets hidden in secret vaults on four different continents. But as digital asset brokers, lenders, and exchanges continue to fall into bankruptcy — locking up customer funds in the process — the Dutch family of five is proactively moving $1 million in crypto into DEXs, which allow users to hang on to custody of their tokens. “For me, bitcoin is still about freedom, and decentralized currency should be able to be used by everyone in the world without needing to do KYC or any other regulatory stuff,” Didi Taihuttu told CNBC, referring to the know-your-customer, or KYC compliance, required by many centralized platforms such as Coinbase . DEXs don’t require users to connect an ID or bank account to the platform, hence making it an ideal custody solution for the Taihuttus. CNBC caught up with the 44-year-old patriarch a few days after the family made the move from Lagos, Portugal, to Phuket, an island just off the western coast of mainland Thailand in the Andaman Sea. The family is currently living on 0.3 bitcoin a month — about $5,000 — and they are buying back the bitcoin that they sold when the cryptocurrency was trading at around $55,000 a year ago. For the Taihuttus, the cascade of crypto bankruptcies and failed tokens just shows that “bitcoin is the king” and “completely different than all the other projects,” Didi Taihuttu said. While the Taihuttus did not have any tokens tied up with FTX, Celsius, Voyager Digital, or any of the other platforms that recently went under, the wave of failures did remind them of the importance of ownership. In crypto, one of the mantras is “not your keys, not your coins,” meaning that rightful possession of tokens comes through the custody of the corresponding private keys. DEXs such as Uniswap and SushiSwap are peer-to-peer platforms where transactions happen directly between traders, entirely cutting out intermediaries such as banks and brokers. That means that users retain custody of their tokens by never handing over their private keys. DEXs eliminate centralized intermediaries from financial transactions such as trading, holding and transferring assets through programmable pieces of code known as smart contracts. These contracts are written on a public blockchain such as ethereum, and execute when certain conditions are met, negating the need for a central intermediary. In essence, with DEXs, you trust code, and with CEXs, you trust people. “You never send your bitcoin to an exchange. Your bitcoin stays in your own wallet, meaning you have complete custody of your coins,” explained Taihuttu. “You connect to a DEX, and by making that connection, you trade out of your own wallet.” That nuance of ownership is critical. “If the DEX collapses, it doesn’t matter, because the bitcoin are always in your own wallet,” he added.

Investors may be on the doorstep of a deep pullback. Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson, who has an S&P 500 year-end target of 3,900 for next year, warns corporate America is getting ready to unleash downward earnings revisions that will pummel stocks. “It’s the path. I mean nobody cares about what’s going to happen in 12 months. They need to deal with the next three to six months,” he told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Tuesday. “That’s where we actually think there’s significant downside. So, while 3,900 sounds like a really boring six months. No... it’s going to be a wild ride.” Wilson, who serves as the firm’s chief U.S. equity strategist and chief investment officer, believes the S&P could drop as much as 24% from Tuesday’s close in early 2023. “You should expect an S&P between 3,000 and 3,300 some time in probably the first four months of the year,” he said. “That’s when we think the deacceleration on the revisions on the earnings side will kind of reach its crescendo.” On Tuesday, the S&P 500 closed at 3,957.63, a 17% decline so far this year. Wilson’s year-end price target was 3,900 for this year, too. “The bear market is not over,” he added. “We’ve got significantly lower lows if our earnings forecast is correct.” And he believes the pain will be widespread. “Most of the damage will happen in these bigger companies — not just tech, by the way. It could be consumer . It could be industrial ,” Wilson said. “When those stocks had a tough time in October, the money went into these other areas. So, part of that rally has been driven just be repositioning from the money moving.” Wilson’s forecast comes on the heels of prior pullback warnings on “Fast Money.” In July, he warned the June low was probably not the final move downward. On Oct. 13, the S&P 500 reached its 52-week low of 3,491.58. ‘Not a time to sell everything’ Yet Wilson does not consider himself a full-fledged bear. “This is not a time to sell everything and run for the hills because that’s probably not until the earnings come down in January [and] February,” he said. Wilson expects bullish tailwinds to push stocks higher over the next few weeks. “It’s our job to call these tactical rallies. We’ve got this one right,” Wilson said. “I still think this tactical rally has legs into year end.”

Striking a contrite tone, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he “didn’t do a good job” at upholding his responsibilities to regulators, customers, and investors in a hotly anticipated conversation with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Dealbook Summit. Bankman-Fried’s FTX imploded in mid-November after Coindesk reported irregularities in the company’s balance sheets. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Nov. 11.

Josh Brown, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO, joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss the market rally and what it means for markets as we head into year end.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivers remarks at the the Brookings Institute on the elements of core inflation, setting monetary policy with consideration to lag times and the indicators of sufficiently restrictive policy.

CNBC’s Steve Liesman and Randy Kroszner, former Federal Reserve governor and economics professor at University of Chicago Booth of School Business, joins ‘Power Lunch’ to discuss whether the decline in job openings will lead to a steep rise in the unemployment rate, how long the federal funds rate will remain at five percent and more.

Bill Smead, Smead Capital Management CIO, joins ‘Power Lunch’ to discuss Powell’s recent comments, his thoughts on the homebuilder sector in 2023 and more.

Ivan Cheung, Eisai U.S. CEO, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss the results of Eisai’s experimental Alzheimer’s phase three trial, the side effects associated with the Alzheimer’s drug and more.

Liz Young, SoFi head of investment strategy, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss whether we’ll reach new lows in the equity markets, what she thinks is ahead for the economy and more.

Pierre Breber, Chevron CFO, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss oil stocks and the price outlook with China’s continued lockdowns.

CNBC’s Julia Boorstin joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to report on the TikTok CEO’s interview at the NYT DealBook conference.

Dan Ives, Wedbush analyst, joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss Salesforce shares falling amid news of leadership changes.

John Spallanzani, Miller Value Partners portfolio manager, joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss Fed Chair Powell’s speech and its impact on stocks.

Amazon Web Services’ annual cloud conference is back in full swing in Las Vegas for the first time since the onset of the pandemic and CNBC TechCheck’s Jon Fortt sits down exclusively with AWS CEO Adam Selipsky. He says that although AWS is in a temporary hiring freeze, they are absorbing spikes in the cost of energy and tech labor, making the case that its scale and experience in cloud technologies make it a port in the storm of a volatile economy.

Sono Motors, Aptera Motors and Lightyear are all developing solar electric vehicles that are set to hit the market over the next few years. While these cars have lithium-based batteries that can be charged normally, they also contain integrated solar panels that can provide an additional 15 to 45 miles of range. As the tech improves, solar EVs could gain wider adoption as manufacturers and consumers seek greater efficiency and range alongside decreased dependence on grid infrastructure.

Kevin Mahn, Hennion and Walsh Asset Management president and CIO, joins ‘Power Lunch’ to discuss what Best Buy, American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch are doing right, how many retail beats are attributable to inflation and more.

Fran Horowitz, Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss the big surprise in the company’s quarter, how investors should look at Abercrombie’s raised guidance and what its pricing will look like this holiday season.

Joe Terranova, Virtus Investment Partners, joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss S&P sector leaders and the broader markets.

Liz Young, SoFi, joins ‘Closing Bell: Overtime’ to discuss whether she believes the lows are already in for this bear market.

Cramer explained why he believes these 10 stocks can make a comeback after the Federal Reserve finishes its tightening cycle.

European telecommunications companies want tech giants, mainly American, to pay for the mobile network infrastructure that they use. But Big Tech is hitting back.

Economics professor Nouriel Roubini slammed Binance's Changpeng "CZ" Zhao on stage at Abu Dhabi Finance week on Wednesday. CZ then hit back on Thursday at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit.