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Lean hog futures are trading a tick to 15 cents higher in the front months on Friday. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $90.33 on Friday morning. The CME Lean Hog Index was 37 cents higher on March 4 at $90.55.USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Friday AM report was down 44 cents at $98.78 per cwt. The belly, rib, and picnic primals were reported higher. USDA estimated Thursday’s federally inspected hog slaughter at 491,000 head, taking the total to 1.944 million head for the week. That is 7,000 head below last week and 132,550 head below the…

Key Takeaways Hana Card launched a program offering 5% CRO cashback on USDC-funded Visa payments for tourists in South Korea. South Korea is refining its Digital Asset Basic Act as banks prepare KRW-stablecoin projects ahead of 2026 regulation. USDC usage is expanding globally, with Circle reporting major growth and partnerships with Visa, FIS and international banks. Stablecoins are quietly moving from crypto trading desks to everyday payments — and South Korea is becoming one of the latest testing grounds. Hana Financial Group has launched a pilot program allowing foreign visitors to pay Korean merchants using USDC-funded Visa cards, offering cashback…

The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its long-running fraud and securities violation lawsuit against Justin Sun in a $10 million settlement.The US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its lawsuit against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun with a $10 million settlement, ending a two-year legal battle over alleged fraud and securities laws violations.The SEC said in a letter to a Manhattan federal court on Thursday that Rainberry, one of Sun’s companies, would pay a $10 million fine, and claims against Sun and his companies, the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent Foundation would be dropped.Related: Rep Waters demands SEC oversight hearing about…

After another year that confounded rate and recession forecasts, many advisors are rethinking what fixed income should do in client portfolios in 2026. Resilient growth, sticky inflation, and tighter credit spreads have complicated the traditional “rates fall, bonds rally” narrative, forcing a reassessment of where to take risk, how much duration to own, and how to make real income work harder without overreaching on credit or structure.   Erik Aarts, senior fixed income strategist at Touchstone Investments, shares his perspective on how advisors can position across core, credit, and real-yield opportunities in a post-pandemic economy that no longer fits the old playbook. …

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Wednesday closed up +0.78%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +0.49%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed up +1.51%.  March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) rose +0.77%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) rose +1.53%.Stock indexes rallied on Wednesday as signs of US economic resilience and cooling inflationary pressures outweighed concerns about the Iran war.  The US labor market continues to grow after the Feb ADP employment report showed employers added more jobs than expected.  Also, the US service economy expanded at the fastest pace in 3.5 years last month, while service price…

Key takeaways:Derivatives and onchain data show a lack of bullish conviction, as 43% of Bitcoin holders remain at a loss despite recent price gains.Surging AI energy demand is squeezing miner profits to record lows, forcing major listed firms to offload BTC and pivot to computing.Traders face a psychological hurdle at $76,000, the average cost basis for major corporate holders like Strategy.Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a four-week high on Wednesday, potentially clearing a path for a recovery toward the $78,700 monthly close recorded in January. Despite a 22% rally from the $60,000 local bottom on Feb. 6, several onchain and derivatives…

Blackstone has increased redemption capacity for its Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED), raising the quarterly repurchase limit to 7.9% of total shares as withdrawal requests across the retail private credit sector rise.  In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Blackstone said it expanded the fund’s standard 5% quarterly repurchase limit to 7%, while the firm and its employees stepped in to cover the remaining 0.9%.  “This enabled BCRED to meet 100% of requests for the quarter with certainty and timeliness while further aligning Blackstone and its employees alongside BCRED’s shareholders,” the filing said.  Blackstone emphasized the move reflects…

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Tuesday closed down -0.94%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) closed down -0.83%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed down -1.09%.  March E-mini S&P futures (ESH26) fell -0.94%, and March E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQH26) fell -1.11%.Stock indexes settled lower on Tuesday with the S&P 500 falling to a 3.25-month low, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping to a 2.75-month low, and the Nasdaq 100 sliding to a 3.5-month low.  Join 200K+ Subscribers: Find out why the midday Barchart Brief newsletter is a must-read for thousands daily.   Global stock markets retreated, and crude oil…

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig addressed market structure, prediction markets and perpetual futures at a Tuesday event.Michael Selig, chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the agency will soon address how to handle perpetual futures contracts for cryptocurrencies.In a Tuesday panel hosted by the Milken Institute in Washington, DC, Selig said that the CFTC was working toward getting “true perpetual futures” in the United States “within the next month or so.” The CFTC chair is currently the only Senate-confirmed commissioner, with no indication as of Tuesday that US President Donald Trump will nominate…

The dollar index (DXY00) rose by +0.97% on Monday and posted a 5-week high.  The dollar rallied on Monday after oil prices surged to an 8.25-month high, boosting inflation expectations and reducing the chance of additional Fed rate cuts, a supportive factor for the dollar.  Also, Monday’s better-than-expected Fed ISM manufacturing report was supportive of the dollar.  In addition, sharply higher T-note yields on Monday strengthened the dollar’s interest rate differentials. The US Feb ISM manufacturing index fell -0.2 to 52.4, stronger than expectations of 51.5.  The Feb ISM prices paid sub-index rose +11.5 to a 3.5-year high of 70.5, stronger…