World Market News of the 17 January with FXOpen
HONG KONG STOCKS EXTEND SELL-OFF, CHINA SHARES NEAR 5-YEAR LOWS
Hong Kong stocks rebounded Thursday, while mainland China shares languished near five-year lows.
The CSI 300 index was 0.94% lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.3%. Miners led sectoral declines on both the indexes. It comes a day after data showed China’s economy expanded by 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023, missing Reuters poll estimates of 5.3% growth.
Source: CNBC
US STOCKS EXTEND LOSSES AS BETS ON FED RATE CUTS EASE
US stocks fell on Wednesday as optimism over interest rate cuts dimmed while worries over China's economy continued a challenging start to the year for investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell almost 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid nearly 0.6%, set to build on Tuesday's losing start to the holiday-shortened week. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down about 0.6%.
Stocks declined as investors reduced expectations for a March rate cut. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, as of Wednesday, there is a 57% probability of a March rate cut, down from 67% last week and 71% a month ago.
Source: Yahoo Finance
BITCOIN HASH RATE FELL BY 34% AMID TEXAS' SUBZERO TEMPERATURES
A sudden freeze in Texas has caused a significant drop in the Bitcoin hash rate, as miners in the state were forced to curtail operations to support the state's energy grid. YCharts data shows a 34% decline in the Bitcoin network hash rate, dropping from over 629 EH/s on January 11 to around 415 EH/s on January 15. There was a partial recovery on January 16 when temperatures briefly rose above freezing in Austin.
Texas accounts for about 29% of the Bitcoin hash rate in the United States, with many mining firms relocating there after China's crackdown on crypto mining.
Source: CoinMarketCap