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Bitcoin may have ended its historical four-year cycle, signaling an incoming year of downside, despite widespread analyst expectations for an extended cycle driven by regulatory tailwinds.Bitcoin’s (BTC) $125,000 all-time high on Oct. 6 may have signaled the top of the current four-year Bitcoin halving cycle, both in terms of “price and time,” according to Jurrien Timmer, the director of global macroeconomic research at asset management firm Fidelity.“While I remain a secular bull on Bitcoin, my concern is that Bitcoin may well have ended another 4-year cycle halving phase,” wrote Timmer in a Thursday X post. “Bitcoin winters have lasted about…

Cotton futures saw Thursday gains of 8 points across the front months at the close. Crude oil futures were 8 cents per barrel higher at $56.02. The US dollar index was $0.093 higher to $98.095. Export Sales data showed 135,886 RB of cotton sold during the week of 11/27, a 4-week low. Shipments were a 3-week high at 122,094 RB.  Don’t Miss a Day: From crude oil to coffee, sign up free for Barchart’s best-in-class commodity analysis.  Total export sale commitments are 5.72 million RB, which is now 16.53% below the same period last year. Much of that is due to…

Ethereum blockspace trading platform ETHGas announced it has raised $12 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital.The funding announcement comes after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently discussed the idea of an onchain “gas futures” market, arguing that such a product could give users a clearer signal of expected fees and let them hedge future costs.ETHGas argues that Ethereum needs “a reimagination of the way blockspace is allocated on the network” and claims that its newly-launched blockspace trading platform is a step in that direction. The company said the market launched with $800 million in commitments from validators, builders…

Unemployment Rate Rises as Participation Holds Steady The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November, exceeding market expectations and marking an increase from earlier in the fall . The number of unemployed climbed to 7.8 million, while the labor force participation rate held at 62.5%, suggesting the rise in joblessness was driven by hiring softness rather than workers re-entering the labor market . Longer-term indicators showed little improvement, with long-term unemployment steady at 1.9 million. Sector Performance Highlights Defensive Hiring Job gains were concentrated in health care, which added 46,000 positions, and construction, which expanded payrolls by 28,000 . These…

The DividendRank formula at Dividend Channel ranks a coverage universe of thousands of dividend stocks, according to a proprietary formula designed to identify those stocks that combine two important characteristics — strong fundamentals and a valuation that looks inexpensive. BWX Technologies inc (Symbol: BWXT) presently has an above average rank, in the top 50% of the coverage universe, which suggests it is among the top most “interesting” ideas that merit further research by investors. But making BWX Technologies inc an even more interesting and timely stock to look at, is the fact that in trading on Wednesday, shares of BWXT…

While attracting new users may not be a core challenge for crypto, keeping them active beyond the first month is far more difficult, and data from prediction markets is spotlighting the issue. Polymarket retention data, compiled by analytics company Dune and market maker Keyrock, tracked monthly cohorts of new active users and measured the number of users who returned to trade in subsequent months. According to the report, which sampled 275 crypto projects spanning networks, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, wallets and trading apps, Polymarket’s average retention outperformed over 85% of protocols. The data highlighted how rare sustained usage remains across the crypto sector.…

Key Takeaways Spot XRP ETFs have recorded 30 consecutive days of net inflows, setting a new industry record. The streak comes despite outflows from Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the same period. Cumulative XRP ETF inflows are nearing $1 billion, with assets under management topping $1.18 billion. While much of the crypto ETF market struggled through November, one corner of the market quietly moved in the opposite direction. Spot XRP exchange-traded funds have logged 30 straight trading days of net inflows, a run that now stands as the longest uninterrupted inflow streak among major crypto ETFs. The milestone arrives at…

Looking at options trading activity among components of the S&P 500 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Pfizer Inc (Symbol: PFE), where a total volume of 285,976 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 28.6 million underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 56.3% of PFE’s average daily trading volume over the past month, of 50.8 million shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $24 strike put option expiring February 20, 2026, with 35,590 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately…

Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has rolled out prediction markets in the United States after securing key regulatory approval.Gemini has launched its in-house prediction market, Gemini Predictions, rolling out the offering across all 50 US states, the exchange announced in an X post on Monday.Provided via affiliate Gemini Titan, Gemini Predictions enables users to trade real-world events with yes or no questions with “near instant execution” and full transparency.The launch came shortly after Gemini Titan obtained a designated contract market license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Wednesday, authorizing the company…

*As of 12 December 2025. No rating Outlook currently assigned on Ukraine in selective default. Displayed are Outlooks on long-term issuer ratings in foreign currency. Source: Scope Ratings. Rating Risks Offset the Potential for Stronger Economic Growth, Fiscal Resilience Significant geopolitical and fiscal risks outweigh the potential positive effects from stronger growth and emerging pockets of fiscal resilience within the EU. Among potential tailwinds in Europe, possible gains may be linked to artificial intelligence-driven productivity gains and the implementation of reforms in Europe related to the Next Generation EU funding programme. In addition, many European sovereigns retain considerable funding flexibility,…