The equity markets have charged into 2023 with most major indices posting positive returns. The S&P is up 3.45% while Real Estate is up an impressive 6.23%. Bonds are also trying to make a comeback, up 2.52%. We expect more volatility to come, and everyone is waiting to see how aggressively the Federal Reserve the will raise the Fed Funds rate.
- The one financial asset that is not recovering is crypto. Bitcoin ended 2022 down 50%+. This ‘crypto crash’ is being called the ‘crypto winter’.
- Bitcoin has declined more than 50% SIX times since its debut in 2009 – so this may not be the death of crypto
- That said, major crypto exchanges, Coinbase and Gemini, are laying off thousands of workers.
- FTX Trading, a leader in the space, went bankrupt and is facing fraud charges. An attorney for FTX Trading told the US Bankruptcy Judge, “We have located over $5bn dollars of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities”
- A year ago, the firm was valued at $32bn, and filed for bankruptcy protection in November. It has been estimated that $8bn of customer’s funds was missing.
- FTX had secured an advertising partnership with Miami-Dade County for the Miami Heat Arena that would be called ‘FTX Arena’.
- Lawyers for Miami-Dade County say FTX owed $16.5m for terminating the agreement, and an additional $5.5m if the agreement wasn’t terminated by Jan. 1.
- The County is now free to pursue new advertising partnerships for the stadium.
- The $135m deal was to last for 19 years since the deal was signed in March 2021. The County had pledged the funds towards preventing gun violence.
- FTX already paid Miami-Dade $20m, much of which had already been spent.
And in other news….
- 2023 got off to a shaky start with record setting weather causing problems worldwide with planes, trains, and automobiles
- Amtrak passengers (over 550 people) had a 20-hour delay due to a freight train accident caused by weather. Panicked passengers inundated 911 with panicked calls saying they were being held hostage
- Southwest cancelled hundreds of flights and ruined the holidays for thousands of people. Weather was blamed, but insiders point fingers at their outdated software systems.
- Recently, over 10,000 flights were cancelled affecting 3 million customers – again blamed on weather. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated their corrupted database had a file outage that grounded thousands of planes.
And locally:
- After three years of historic drought in California, a deluge of unrelenting rainfall and high wind has been inundating much of the state’s coastline, farmland, and valleys.
- It could be worse: California has a history of floods: In 1862, the governor-elect took a rowboat to his own inauguration because Sacramento was so deep in floodwaters.
- But some like the rain: California’s redwood forests don’t mind wet, windy weather. Though some trees may be toppled in storms, experts say that redwood trees, which can live for centuries, are adapted to a wide range of weather events.