She points out to the run of Russell 2000 (the index of small-cap stocks) – is up almost 10% this year (through yesterday’s close). The run of FAANG stocks continues (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet).Where are we on the standard cycle of the investor's emotions: Optimism, Excitement, Thrill, Euphoria, Anxiety, Denial, Fear, Desperation, Panic, Capitulation, Despondency, Depression is anybody’s guess?

The buyback boom has seen by investors as a sign of confidence among business executives.  According to an analysis of regulatory filings by TrimTabs Investment Research, insiders sold $8.4 billion of their shares in May and $9.2 billion in June.Apple (AAPL) also announced plans last quarter for $100 billion in buybacks. However, according to an analysis from SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson Jr, insider selling increases immediately after buybacks are unveiled.

EU regulators have charged the Android developer for compelling smartphone makers into pre-installing Google Search app and Chrome as a condition for licensing Google Play store, and even paying them to bundle Google apps into the operating system in some instances. The investigation, started by EU regulators in 2015, apparently indicates that Google has been using its Android dominance to milk advertising and other revenues, while restricting choices for European consumers. Previously, EU had slapped $2.7 billion fine on Google in 2017 for unethically favoring its own shopping services over rivals on its search results.Adding the latest charge, Google potentially faces more than $7 billion in fines from the EU. Google however, argues that Android has actually enhanced consumer choice and that providing Android software free of charge to manufacturers has helped lower phone prices and therefore increased online usage by consumers.

Touted as ‘Amazon Prime Day’, the e-commerce giant’s massive discount event apparently saw several shoppers frustrated by technical faults on its website and app. In addition to speed bumps on shopping (mainly in the first hour of the event day that started at 3 P.M Eastern time Monday), customers also faced troubles streaming content on Amazon Prime Video and connecting to AI voice assistant Alexa – as indicated by user reports on DownDetector.com.Many people took to social media and tagged the event as “#PrimeDayFail”. The technical hiccups, however, could not stop this year’s Prime Day from outshining last year’s event.

While previously it did not allow itself to repurchase shares at prices 20% or more above its book value, Tuesday’s announcement from the firm indicates potentially less stringency going forward. According to the announcement, Berkshire's new policy would let CEO & Chairman Warren Buffet and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger buy back shares whenever they felt that the firm’s stock price was below its “intrinsic value, conservatively determined”.cash that would be available for shareholders) of the firm discounted to present value. With Berkshire's stockpile of cash ballooning to more than $115 billion by Q4 2017, and staying above $108 billion as of Q1 2018, many people might view the firm’s shift in buyback policy as a natural move.

Reason: EU tariffs.  EU has decided to slap 25% tariff rate on several goods it imports from the U.S. – as a retaliatory move against the U.S. government’s imports tariffs on European steel and aluminum.Seemingly unwilling to pass this cost to dealers and retail consumers, the motorcycle behemoth is considering moving some of its production away from the U.S. As it is, Harley Davidson has been trying to revive sales following a closure of its Kansas City plant in January as its shipments fell to a six-year low.

Reason: EU tariffs.  EU has decided to slap 25% tariff rate on several goods it imports from the U.S. – as a retaliatory move against the U.S. government’s imports tariffs on European steel and aluminum.Seemingly unwilling to pass this cost to dealers and retail consumers, the motorcycle behemoth is considering moving some of its production away from the U.S. As it is, Harley Davidson has been trying to revive sales following a closure of its Kansas City plant in January as its shipments fell to a six-year low.

As we wrote in our previous blog, while the external events have significant influence on the markets, they tend to be short-lived.The “real news” are in the earnings and we are witnessing the blood bath for one of the high flyers – Netflix (NFLX).

Wells Fargo released an earnings report earlier today, and it was to the disappointment of investors.This could be a slippery slope for the bank because as their profits and revenues decrease, they are increasing their expenses to employees. 

Broadcom LTD in its never-ending ambition to swallow as many companies as possible, made an offer to acquire a software company CA Inc for almost $19 billion in cash!Market does not like it…The stock is currently down 15%, and it might be worth looking at it.

While the markets are getting very tired of watching the never ending twits, articles, opinions, news, negotiations, remarks and speeches of all the pundits who know everything about the effects of the trade tariffs, the earning season is about to begin.Staring next week, we will see hundreds of earning reports - and this will determine the future direction of the markets.

His company’s new, mobile-friendly crypto exchange is designed to reflect this belief – and potentially point the direction for the future of cryptocurrency trading. “From a long-term perspective, we want to take a stand, and the first steps toward moving the market away from being tied to Bitcoin,” said Pankewitz.“There are thousands of projects in cryptocurrency — distributed apps, blockchain use cases, and smart contract platforms across every industry vertical…each has their own project, company, team, utility, levels of funding, traction, community, and business model.

Blockchain’s burgeoning popularity is piquing interest in new places.The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a branch of the US Department of Commerce, has identified blockchain’s potential to help American entrepreneurs.

Sharp upticks in initial coin offerings (ICOs) saw $3 billion raised by companies through token sales in March alone.As the industry has matured, new types of businesses have emerged, aiming to capitalize on this brave, new decentralized world. Cryptocurrency hedge funds now exist to invest in blockchain-based digital assets.

The announcement came shortly after The National Bank of Kuwait declared their own plans to adopt xCurrent for instant cross-border payments for its customers. RippleNet, a SWIFT-replacement global blockchain network, is used by over 100 financial institutions to clear and settle international transactions in real time, all with the benefit of end-to-end visibility for each payment.More specific details of the transaction have yet to be announced – while KFH has announced the Central Bank of Kuwait will need to approve the use of any RippleNet services, it is unclear if KFH will use xCurrent, Ripple’s software offering enabling settlement in fiat currency, or xRapid, which uses Ripple’s XRP token to offer instant liquidity in cross-border transactions. Kuwait is not the first country in the Middle East to adopt RippleNet.

Friedman revealed on CNBC’s Squawk Box that Nasdaq would “certainly consider becoming a crypto exchange over time.” But she made clear that to do so, the crypto space would need to mature beyond its current iteration – specifically in its regulatory environment. 2017’s crypto boom, which saw prices soar to around $20,000 in December 2017, made cryptocurrency almost impossible to ignore.It is still nascent days for most regulatory efforts worldwide, including in the United States, where ‘are-they-or-aren’t-they’ securities questions dominate conversation at the government level.

The open-source code, which depends heavily on user contributions for maintenance and improvements, is vitally important to Bitcoin’s health, but coding has typically been handled by several dozen veterans.After struggling for years to recruit fresh contributors, 2018 has seen healthy growth in coders and code submissions – 21 were approved in March and April alone. While there does not appear to be a single root cause for the increase, developers believe that sustained investment in educational programs has paid off in spades.

Of the companies that identified themselves as "extensive adopters" of AI, some 71% of them said they expect revenue growth exceeding +10%.Find ways to adopt and implement AI into production and services or run the risk of having a larger rival beat you to market. The evidence is already there.

Dublin, Ireland, and Zug, Switzerland would not have been on anyone’s shortlist as the next big crypto cities, but each city has outsized ambitions to become just that. Ireland is not one of the world’s traditional financial capitals, but Crypto Coast, an incubator based in an old ferry terminal in suburban Dublin, has designs to change that.That organization laid the groundwork for Ireland’s burgeoning crypto community – the “dance floor,” in his parlance.

Let’s examine how regulation has influenced trading volumes so far. The United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, and Turkey host the most cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, in that order.So how are they getting so much trading volume? The discrepancy can be explained by regulatory frameworks in each country.   Favorable Regulations = More Action Naturally, exchanges look for countries offering favorable regulations to their businesses.