05212021 :: Friday finance

A partial digest

The crypto market imploded, then imploded again in spectacular fashion. At one point, more than $1 trillion market cap had vaporized. The hits just kept on coming. If buying the dips, extreme caution is advised.

The space is facing multiple headwinds, including the investigation of the Binance exchange (one of the largest); what the IRS and Treasury want; concerns with the Tether stablecoin’s reserves; China’s unforgiving stance on crypto; good old-fashioned forced liquidations of highly leveraged positions; and Elon Musk’s market manipulating statements. The latter party may draw some regulatory scrutiny, himself.

A very clear issue that will remain and support market volatility until it is addressed is that there is very little in the way of formally established regulation of the crypto space globally, as of yet.

Quick wrap:

• Infrastructure spending in the US is already on the chopping block.
• Index volatility in the US has thus far led to more flatlining for the month of May, in particular. As stated here before, diversified dividend plays can make for a healthier portfolio in such times.
• Yields finished slightly down after a volatile week.

• The DXY breached 90.