Even though the World Wide Web has been around for nearly 30 years legislation surrounding this groundbreaking technology is still in its infancy. Two laws have just been passed that could change things quite significantly. In Europe, a new privacy law is set to go into effect on May 25th that will give users full control over who can store and access their personal data. This is a huge win for consumers but could prove very expensive for large corporations to implement the necessary changes by the deadline.
In the United States, things are going the other way. The FCC has just voted to repeal the Obama era law of net-neutrality. This is a win for large cable companies who will now be able to offer faster Internet speeds to clients using their services and smaller websites will likely be a lot slower going forward.
This ruling by the FCC is being seen by many as a slap in the face of the US constitution and citizens rights to freedom of speech. As large corporations gain the upper hand in speed they will be able to assert much tighter controls over the flow of information.
As with many things, technology has a way of fixing itself. Web 2.0, which is currently under construction with the help of blockchain and smart contracts may well render both of the above rulings useless over the next decade.
Market Overview
US stocks reached another all time record high yesterday for the first time in a week and a half with the S&P 500 reaching a milestone of 2,600 points.
Stocks in Asia and Europe are following suit with notable gains across the board.
This comes as the US Dollar is under a bit of pressure. Let’s take a look at the USDJPY, which is now meeting a critical support level of 111.50 (blue line). It just so happens that the average price for the past 200 days (yellow line) is sitting just above that support. So a strong break of both lines could lead us to the bottom of the range around 109.
Volatility Ahead
There are several large announcements coming out today that could shake things up a bit. The FOMC minutes later this evening should set the tone on Wall Street ahead of the Thanksgiving break tomorrow.
There are also several other announcements coming out during the US session including Durable Goods orders and Crude Oil inventories. With oil up near $58 this will be something to watch closely.
But before all that, the focus right now is on the UK and the annual budget that will be released at 12:30 PM in London.
The ruling Tory party would probably like to splurge on some fancy vote winning initiatives but the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will more likely propose something a bit more level-headed. The effects of Brexit are still a huge source of uncertainty so being conservative with the national treasury may be the prudent move at this time, even if it is largely unpopular.
The British Pound has been trading in a tight range in anticipation of this announcement.
Dash!!
Though the overall rally in the cryptomarket has been losing a bit of steam over the past 48 hours things are still trucking ahead fairly consistently.
One of the outstanding exceptions is Dash, which has recently broken through it’s all time highest level and has managed a gain of 21% over the past 24 hours.
Here we can see the price growth since the beginning of the year, a jaw-dropping gain of 4,881%. We are firmly in the realm of imaginary numbers folks.
One thing that could be giving rise to this specific coin on this specific day is a $550,000 partnership that was announced between the Dash Foundation and Kuvacash. The new project aims to bring some level of financial stability to the country of Zimbabwe through a peer to peer payment system that will be accessible to anybody with a mobile phone.
In our bi-monthly webinar yesterday we had a great discussion about cryptocurrencies on eToro as well as the benefits that are available to our members. You can catch the recording of that here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/4385655401945804545
As always, please feel free to reach me anytime with any questions. Have an awesome day ahead!!
