Weekly news summary for December 31 to January 6

Friday, Dec. 31: Valereum Acquires Juno Group in £850,000 Deal

Valereum Blockchain Plc on Friday announced that it had acquired Juno Group, a company that helps develop and operate trusts, money management, and enterprise establishment in Gibraltar, in an £850,000 deal.

Valereum said the acquisition was a crucial step toward creating completely regulated ties between the fiat and cryptocurrency spaces, which fits the tech firm’s work with the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX), an exchange that focuses on pursuing regulated digital assets.

Monday, Jan. 3: Tesla Shares Up as EV Delivery Hits 308,000 in Q4

Shares of Tesla Inc. were up 6.8% on Monday, as the US electric carmaker delivered a record of 308,000 units in the fourth quarter, with analyst and Tesla bull Daniel Ives saying the delivery number speaks to a strong electric-vehicle (EV) demand for the company heading into 2022.

Chinese EV maker XPeng Motors also saw significant delivery growth in the same quarter, reporting a surge of 222% to 41,751 units, while NIO’s and Li Auto Inc.’s delivery numbers were up 25,034 and 35,221 vehicles, respectively.

Tuesday, Jan. 4: China’s Dec. Factory Activity Hits 6-Month High

Factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy surged to a six-month high in December, finding support on increased production and fewer price pressures, although uncertainty remained due to a weaker job market and business optimism.

China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) climbed to 50.9 in the previous month, beating forecasts and marking its highest level since June, while a gauge of input prices dropped to its lowest since May 2020.

Wednesday, Jan. 5: Goldman Sachs Predicts Bitcoin Could Reach $100K

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts predicted that the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap Bitcoin could hit $100,000 in the next five years, provided it beats gold as a store of value in the safe-haven asset space.

The bank’s analysts stated that if Bitcoin surpasses 50% of the store of value market share in the next five years, its price will climb past $100,000 to reach a compound annualized return of 18%.

Thursday, Jan. 6: Asian Stocks Slide After Hawkish Fed Minutes

Asian stocks fell on Thursday, following the steep drop in US stocks, after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting signaled a rate hike that is much quicker than expected due to concerns over continued inflation, while the fast spread of the Omicron variant weakened riskier assets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.31%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.74%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 2.88% and China’s CSI 300 slipped 1.02% as the country’s service sector activity climbed more rapidly in December.

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