International Economic
US retail sales rise in August but demand slowing
US retail sales unexpectedly rose in August but demand is slowing, according to figures released on Thursday by the Labor Department.
US industrial production decreases 0.2% in August
US industrial production decreased 0. 2% month-on-month in August, according to the Federal Reserve, missing market expectations for a 0. 1% increase.
US initial jobless claims fall to four-month low
First-time unemployment claims fell to 213,000 in the week ended 10 September, according to the Labor Department, down from the previous week's revised print of 218,000 and well below market expectations for a reading of 226,000.
PBoC leaves key lending rate unchanged
China’s central bank has kept a key lending rate unchanged, in line with expectations.
German government considers stake in gas importer VNG
Germany’s government is mulling the possibility of buying a chunk of a second large natural gas importer, it was reported on Thursday, as the energy crisis continued to worsen across Europe.
Little action for Bitcoin and Ethereum before and during 'The Merge'
The cryptocurrency market wavers between the red and the green on Thursday, on a day when it is the focus of investors' attention because of the Ethereum blockchain migration to the proof-of-stake consensus model, the event known as 'The Merge'. This event was successfully completed just a few hours ago. This means that the second largest blockchain will upgrade to a transaction validation protocol that reduces its energy consumption by 99%, which will make the technology and its token, Ether (ETH), more environmentally friendly and therefore much more attractive to long-term investors.
Ethereum Merge now official, but is it fully priced in?
The cryptocurrency market is currently celebrating. On Thursday, September 15, the estimated deadline for the Ethereum blockchain to reach the conditions that would allow it to migrate to the proof-of-stake consensus model, was met. The expected event, known as 'The Merge', because it effectively merged the main chain with the Beacon testnet, has been activated and successfully carried out by reaching the total terminal difficulty (TTD) 58,750,000,000,000T. Ether´s (ETH) price action barely flinches following the news and the question on everyone´s lips is whether the cryptocurrency will be the catalyst for the next bull run.