Author: Admin

May ICE NY cocoa (CCK26) today is down -69 (-2.17%), and March ICE London cocoa #7 (CAH26) is down -80 (-3.54%).Cocoa prices are under pressure today but remain above last week’s significant lows.  Cocoa prices extended their seven-week selloff last week, sinking to 2.75-year lows on the nearest futures chart.  International cocoa buyers are reluctant to pay official farm-gate prices for beans in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, as those prices are much higher than current world prices.  The lack of buyers is boosting supplies as ICE cocoa inventories rose to a 5.25-month high of 2,111,554 bags last Friday. Don’t…

February 23, 2026 Following earlier actions to remove reputation risk from its supervision of banks, Federal Reserve Board requests comment on proposal to codify that removal For release at 5:00 p.m. EST Following earlier actions to remove reputation risk from its supervision of banks, the Federal Reserve Board on Monday requested comment on a proposal to codify that removal. The proposal reiterates the Board’s policy against penalizing or prohibiting an institution from banking a customer engaged in legal activity. “We have heard troubling cases of debanking—where supervisors use concerns about reputation risk to pressure financial institutions to debank…

A $7.8 trillion cash pile sits in US money market funds, earning, rolling, waiting. The Federal Reserve began this easing cycle on Sept 18, 2024, and it’s now been 522 days since that first cut.Looking at historical market movements, we’re entering a window whereby funds have typically started to rotate back into riskier assets. Bitcoin analyst Matthew Hyland made exactly this claim on X over the weekend.Historically around 500-1000 days after the FED begins rate cuts the liquidity begins to leave the money market funds and flow out into the markets.The calendar supports the setup, but the incentives will decide…

Futures-options traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange’s NYSE American (AMEX) in New York City, U.S., Feb. 6, 2026. Brendan McDermid | ReutersSpeculative investing tools have boomed in popularity since the Covid pandemic as more retail traders have entered the market, according to forthcoming data shared exclusively with CNBC.Leveraged and inverse funds are expected to see average daily trading volumes of 1.41 billion in 2025, per a report from exchange-traded fund manager Direxion due out on Tuesday. That’s a gain of more than 130% from 2024 and 250% from 2020, the firm found.Leveraged funds aim to…

Madison Realty Capital, a vertically integrated real estate private equity firm with a focus on real estate private credit, has officially launched a new Middle East office in Abu Dhabi.Located within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre of the UAE, the new office will act as a strategic hub to support both the firm’s existing and new investors across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). To facilitate this expansion, Madison secured Financial Services Permission (FSP) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM.Leadership appointment to drive GCC engagementAdam Tantleff, managing principal at Madison Realty CapitalIn conjunction…

There is a moment in Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business when Julie Maughan holds the body of her dead child and lets out an anguished cry. It is as brutal as it is compelling.Her eight-year-old daughter Heather had just died in hospital, two weeks after playing in the sea on the beach at Dawlish Warren in Devon, where she contracted E coli O157, a bug which comes from raw sewage. She became ill with diarrhoea and blood loss. Transferred to Bristol children’s hospital, her parents agreed to switch off her life-support machine after she suffered kidney failure and brain damage.The…

U.S. airlines canceled flights to and from the Mexican cities of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara on Monday amid cartel-related violence over the weekend, leaving tourists stranded.

Millions of people in New York City and a large swath of the north-eastern US were stuck at home under road travel bans and blizzard warnings on Monday as heavy snow and strong winds intensified, creating whiteout conditions in the densely populated region.Snowfall totals in 21 cities and towns across New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts had reached at least 2ft, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). In some areas, that snow has been accompanied by strong wind gusts of over 30mph (48km/h) and low visibility.Rhode Island received a record-breaking 32.8in, far surpassing the two-day snowfall record…

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,887 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares…

Bitwise Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan took to social media to defend Bitcoin (BTC) against a wave of criticism, arguing that skeptics judging the asset as a failed store of value are ignoring the volatile “teenage phase” necessary for any new monetary asset to mature. His comments were a direct challenge to a growing narrative, amplified by a nearly 50% drawdown from its all-time high and recent headlines questioning the cryptocurrency’s purpose. Bitcoin’s Volatility Meets Institutional Impatience The debate reignited after Bloomberg published a report framing the current market downturn as an “existential” struggle for Bitcoin, asking what…