Squire Patton Boggs has added three junior partners in offices across the country building its bench in its Public & Infrastructure Finance practice. Thomas Bruder in Los Angeles; Lauren Trialonas in New York; and Jennifer Crosper in Phoenix were named principals in the firm’s Public & Infrastructure Finance practice. Thomas Bruder was promoted by Squire
Month: March 2020
U.S. prosecutors indicated a Dutch national Thursday for allegedly spearheading a rape and child pornography website that’s made over $1.6 million worth of bitcoin selling videos since 2012. Known as “Michael R.M.,” and “Mr. Dark,” the man allegedly ran a site called “DarkScandals” that operated on the darknet, which requires special software to access, and
U.S. central bankers pledged Thursday to inject some $1.5 trillion into the financial system in an effort to calm panicky markets after the spreading coronavirus triggered steep price declines on everything from stocks to bitcoin. The move by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York comes as investors in traditional Wall Street markets have rushed
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the opening bell on March 10, 2020 in New York. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images We have touched an intraday 20% decline in the S&P 500 that many associate with bear market territory. We also hit a bear market on
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 9, 2020. Bryan R. Smith | Reuters Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Boeing — Shares of the aerospace giant plunged nearly 9% Thursday after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight as fears
Contractors position a wall frame during construction of a new home in Walnut, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images Stocks of the nation’s homebuilders are tanking, on pace for their worst day since December 1, 2008, when the subprime mortgage crisis brought the whole housing market to its knees. A combination of factors
Jim Cramer Scott Mlyn | CNBC CNBC’s Jim Cramer blasted the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus on Thursday, arguing “this is the time for radical action.” “They know nothing. They know nothing. We know more than they do, and that’s not acceptable either,” Cramer said, hearkening back to his famous 2007 rant about the Federal
The collapse of oil prices will inflict “considerable strain” on the economies of oil-producing states, according to S&P Global Ratings, though no outlook changes are in effect. “While shock declines in commodity prices are not new, the timing of this latest rout has potential to upend recent fiscal and economic improvement,” S&P analysts led by
Kadena CEO Will Martino had already been considering abandoning his blockchain development company’s Brooklyn HQ before coronavirus came to New York City. The fast-spreading virus, however, recently convinced him the office had to go. On Feb. 21, he told his team to begin working from home. The New York Metropolitan area’s surging coronavirus count is
Washington state resident Kenneth Warren Rhule has been charged with laundering over $140,000 in bitcoin after agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made a series of undercover cash-for-crypto deals with the 26-year-old. Rhule faces multiple counts of operating an unlicensed bitcoin money transmitter business and laundering monetary instruments after allegedly meeting with government agents “posing
The Royal Caribbean cruise ship ‘Explorer of the Sea’. Getty Images Help for airlines. Help for cruise ship operators. And shale operators. Vague talk of payroll tax cuts that would last through the end of the year. Stocks are moving on hopes of fiscal stimulus in the absence of market-moving coronavirus news. Take Royal Caribbean,
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell into bear market territory Wednesday, and some analysts see a decline of another 10% or more before the selling subsides. The Dow has lost 20.3% on an intra-day basis since Feb. 12 and a little more than 20% on a closing basis. A 20% decline is considered bear market
An ‘Open House’ sign is displayed in the front yard of a home for sale in Columbus, Ohio. Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images Another major drop in mortgage rates caused a massive jump in borrowers applying to refinance their home loans. The surge sent total mortgage application volume up 55.4% last week from
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday that he feels better about buying stocks now that President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged the need for coronavirus relief for workers and small businesses. Trump plans Tuesday to meet with Senate and House Republicans to discuss “a possible payroll tax cut” and other “substantial relief” as coronavirus cases in the
Ethereum (ETH) price has continued to fall after a dreadful weekend, which saw the price drop to around $198, wiping out last week’s gains. The cryptocurrency is currently trading slightly above the $200 support level and faces a nervy week in which it could drop as low as $170. Ethereum Drops to $200 as Crypto
Volatility continues to hang over financial markets due to COVID-19, and after a Monday that had all stocks down at least 6%, stocks rebounded Tuesday and muni yields were up as much as 16 basis points — today munis saw a correction. Munis were weaker on Tuesday on the MBIS benchmark scale, with yields rising
With assets from oil barrels to bitcoin being pulverized by the coronavirus slowdown, people worldwide are reevaluating their plans for crypto gatherings, especially in geographies where anti-COVID-19 measures are increasingly serious. In Milan, Italy, which was officially placed in lockdown by the Italian government on Sunday, bitcoin entrepreneur and meetup organizer Mir Liponi is facing
The fifth anti-money laundering directive (AMLD5) has unexpectedly increased institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, according to an executive at the crypto trading subsidiary of Boerse Stuttgart. Speaking at the CryptoCompare London conference Tuesday, Boerse Stuttgart’s chief digital officer, Dr. Ulli Spankowski, admitted he had been “surprised” by the positive effect 5AMLD had on attracting traditional financial
Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 5, 2020 in New York City. Coronavirus fears have whipsawed markets recently, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending today down more than 950 points, or nearly 3.6 percent. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) David Dee Delgado | Getty Images It
President Donald Trump speaks at the Coronavirus Task Force Press Conference, March 9, 2020. Michael Brochstein | Echoes Wire | Barcroft Media | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s promise of a stimulus plan to battle the impact of the coronavirus needs to be presented within days, or the U.S. economy could slump into recession and
A woman looks at real estate listings outside a Berkshire Hathaway Home Services office in Montclair, N.J. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Rock-bottom mortgage rates are causing a surge in mortgage refinances, so much so that the industry’s largest trade group is revising sharply higher its origination forecasts for the year. The Mortgage Bankers Association is
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Jan. 8, 2020. Xinhua News Agency Financial markets should be able to recover from the recent sell-off with the help of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government, according to JPMorgan Chase. The firm believes stocks have priced in a
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading below the $8,000 level just two months before its anticipated halving in May. However, over the past few weeks, markets have been crashing because of the coronavirus outbreak and investors have been cashing out on their digital assets, including Bitcoin. Will this impact the effect of the halving? Upcoming Halving Might
Restructured Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico bonds, issued from the GDB Debt Restructuring Authority, didn’t make 46% of its latest payment in cash. Instead it gave payment in kind — a promise to make the payment later. The DRA’s trustee, Wilmington Trust announced the development in a posting to the MSRB’s Electronic Municipal Marketplace
DISH Network, a major U.S. television services provider, and Kin, the payments platform built by Kik, are reportedly looking to tap up-and-coming Solana as the basis for their blockchain networks. According to a Solana pitch deck seen by CoinDesk, which indicates the company is looking to raise at least $2 and potentially up to $12
Monday’s historic financial tumult reached beyond stocks, sinking commodities and even bitcoin markets. “I don’t think any asset is safe right now – except cash, U.S. dollars,” said Ali Khedery, formerly Exxon’s senior Middle East advisor and now CEO of U.S.-based strategy firm Dragoman Ventures. While bitcoin prices dropped nearly 10 percent over the weekend,
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud (R) during their meeting at the Kremlin, on May 30, 2017 n Moscow, Russia. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince is on the visit to Russia. Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images The clash between Russia
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images A sharp drop in mortgage interest rates has sparked a sudden and unexpected refinance boom that has lenders large and small scrambling to handle the volume. That stress on the lending market, as well as increased risk to mortgage investors from all those refinances, is actually keeping
Jim Cramer Scott Mlyn | CNBC CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Monday that financial turmoil from the coronavirus shows that monetary policy is no longer an appropriate solution. “This is just the need for fiscal policy,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “Monetary policy is over.” Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates
Cryptocurrencies are notorious for being volatile, and the fact that their prices fluctuate wildly is really quite normal. However, what is not so normal is when the price suddenly plummets and wipes out a huge amount of value. That is what is known as a crash, and it is one of the things that people