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US votes

Relevant News Item 4th November 2020

All Up In The Air In The US: The “Blue Wave” Has Not Happened, There Is Still No Clear Winner

With the counting still to be completed (some states like Pennsylvania and Michigan will continue to count votes until the end of the week), the candidates are very tied (238 Biden vs 213 Trump) against Biden’s victory that had been discounting the markets. Breaking all the democratic rules, Donald Trump calls himself the winner and asks that the postal ballot count be stopped (about 5 million votes), since it is a “fraud to the American public” and “an embarrassment to our country”.

blue wave

Relevant News Item 3rd November 2020

US Elections: In The Short Term, The Best For The Market Is The Blue Wave

Joe Biden is the clear favourite to win the US elections, with in addition a fair chance of a “blue wave”. In the opinion of Gilles Möec, chief economist at AXA IM, given the need of another fiscal push, in the short term, it is probably the optimal outcome for the market especially if the results come quickly. Questions on the long-term US policy stance will come later.

 

Spain USA relations

Relevant News Item 6th October 2020

Biden’s Tax Plan: Top 1% Gets Hit

Historically, a large portion of the US wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. According to data from the Tax Policy Center, about 80% of the capital gains go to the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers. 69% go to the top 1% of taxpayers. Biden’s current proposal calls for those earning more than $1mln to have long term cap gains and qualified dividends be taxed as ordinary income. This would mean a tax increase from 0% -20% (depending on taxpayer’s income) to 39.6% – the current proposal for the top bracket under Biden’s outline. How impactful will this be?

Crytocurrencies turn ten years; 2019 could be the year of tokenization

Relevant News Item 24th September 2020

Crypto Corner: $2 Billion Of Cryptoasset Options Set To Expire Friday

Analysts have warned cryptoassets such as bitcoin and ethereum could be in for a bout of volatility come Friday when nearly $2 billion-worth of options contracts expire, according to Forbes. The data, provided by Skew, suggests the level of options contracts has tripled in the past three months to $1.9 billion in total. Around $1 billion of this is focused on bitcoin alone, with many contracts set between $11,000 and $12,000, higher than bitcoin’s current dollar prices.