Your Weekly Trading Review by UFX.com – Sunday, February 4th, 2018
Here are some of this past week’s leading economic news and events that affected the financial markets:
JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Ban Bitcoin
Three of the leading U.S. financial intuitions are deciding to prohibit the purchase of cryptocurrencies on their financial cards. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. will no longer allow customers to buy Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple and other cryptocurrencies on their credit cards. Spokeswoman Mary Jane Rogers announced on Saturday that JPMorgan’s ban is officially in effect and that the company will not participate in the credit risk associated with the transactions. The decision comes after a volatile week, where bitcoin prices dived more than 50 percent from its highest value in December.
Bank of America ceased all credit card transactions with cryptocurrencies exchanges on Friday. Their ban includes both personal and business credit cards. Citigroup has also announced its decision to halt purchases of cryptocurrencies on its credit cards.
S&P 500, and Dow Slump to Low Levels
U.S. stocks lost almost $1 trillion in this week’s activity. The S&P 500 ended the week with its biggest percentage drop, 3.85 percent, in two years. This sort of loss was last seen in the beginning of 2016 before Brexit and before Trump became president.
Wall Street’s chief stock indices experienced their worst week in two years. The number of weakening U.S. stocks for the week reached above 27,000, the most since July 2014. The Dow Jones Industrials Average lost almost 666 points, 2.5 percent, its biggest daily percentage loss in 20 months. This is the largest daily point fall in the Dow since December 2008 during the financial crisis.
That’s our summary of the financial headlines from the past week. Good luck with this week’s trading and stay tuned for the next review from UFX.