The U.S. announced on July 12 that its annual inflation had fallen to 3% lower than the expected 3.1%
Thursday, markets saw Europe stocks open higher following the news.
More pain is expected in the Eurozone as further interest rate hikes are needed, and BoE expects mortgage payments to be hiked.
Europe stocks have opened higher, with Stoxx 600 up 0.67% at 13:20 London time on July 13. The tech stocks were also up 1.5%, with almost each other sector trading in green.
Europe stocks get a spike though the U.K. economy contracted in May
The U.K. economy is left behind by its west counterpart, the U.S. The U.S. reported strong market data in June, with its inflation falling to the lowest point since 2021. On the other hand, the U.K. reported a contraction of 0.1% in May.
International markets are, however, expecting a 90% possibility of July seeing a rates hike in the U.S. However, a smoother way ahead may be inbound for the U.S., as it was expected that only two more hikes could be necessary this year. As such, markets are reacting well to the information.
Shortly after the news of the falling inflation rates in the U.S. hit the headlines, the STOXX 600 rose by 1.5%, showing more hope among traders, at the same time. The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at its highest level since April 2022.
The U.S. Producer Price Index was released on July 13, 2023, detailing that the final demand increased by 0.1% in June. Concurrently, the Prices for final demand services rose 0.2 percent in the same period.
The US Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.1 percent in June. Prices for final demand services rose 0.2 percent, and the index for final demand goods was unchanged. Prices for final demand advanced 0.1% for the 12 months ended in June.https://t.co/YctBSFrKz6
Wallet, a telegram payments bot, has allowed payments in Bitcoin (BTC) USDT and TON.
It states that merchants who minted to use it must bear their regulatory risks and only use it if their jurisdictions allow crypto payments.
Telegram wallet bot has announced the support of USDT, Bitcoin, and Ton crypto payments. It has also asked merchants to take responsibility for investigating if they are allowed to carry out crypto payments before using its innovation.
The Telegram wallet bot has released the Wallet Pay service, allowing users to transact in three crypto assets named above. This innovation will allow the transaction between users and retain businesses via the telegram interface.
The functionality of this new feature by Telegram has rolled out with support in most countries except the United States of America, where the regular environment is far from friendly. However, it has also deny listed other regions like Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea per international monetary sanctions.
Additionally, it has asked businesses to decide if they can use crypto payments in their regions of jurisdiction before accessing the innovation. As such, it does not expect any usage from countries like Russia, Egypt, China, Vietnam, and others that do not allow using crypto products as treatment.
This development comes when the regulatory atmosphere for crypto assets is still in limbo. Most nations are yet to introduce concrete regulatory frameworks, which have prompted the Telegram wallet bot to ask businesses to take their regulatory risks when accessing the innovation.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
Polygon has tabled a proposal that will bring MATIC’s technical upgrade
Once approved, MATIC’s upgrade will make it a multipurpose token and be renamed POL
Polygon has submitted a proposal to the Polygon community seeking to upgrade its MATIC token to a multipurpose coin across multiple chains and rename it to POL token.
Polygon wants its native token to serve as a multipurpose coin in all chains
Polygon is an Ethereum scaling solution. It was built as an L2 on the Ethereum blockchain network to bring faster transactions and lower gas fees on the L1. It has a native token called MATIC. This coin has grown into one of the most remarkable projects recently.
Now Polygon has submitted a proposal to upgrade this native token into a multipurpose one that can be used to validate transactions on multiple chains. The proposal will the approved by the ecosystem’s community.
1/ Today, the next technical proposal of Polygon 2.0 is unveiled:
POL, the upgraded token of the Polygon protocol! 💫
POL is the next generation native token, designed to secure, align and grow the Polygon ecosystem.
The POL token is set to span all protocols, including the zkEVM, SUpernets, and the network’s PoS chain. It will also align and incentivize the validators on the Network to perform better. A redesign of the protocol architecture is imminent upon the approval of the proposal introducing features such as infinite scalability.
It will allow for staking with the validators to open three incentive streams: protocol rewards, transactional fees, and other additional rewards. The upgrade will also include additional features like allowing the validators to perform multiple roles like validating transactions, ZK proof of generation, and participation in Data Availability Committees.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more crypto and other fintech-related developments.
US CPI has risen to 305.11 points in June from 304.13 points in May, but the country’s inflation rate stands at 3%.
The consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.2% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Over the last 12 months, all items index increased 3.0% before seasonal adjustment.
The US CPI has risen to 305.11 points in June from 304.13 points in May. Over the last 12 months, all items index increased 3.0% before seasonal adjustment. The index for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly all-items increase, accounting for over 70 percent of the increase.
More fear in the markets as CPI increases in the US
The USConsumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. In June, it rose to 305.109 points after the Federal Reserve skipped a rates hike for the first time in months.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the index for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly all-items increase, accounting for over 70 percent of the increase, with the index for motor vehicle insurance also contributing. The food index increased 0.1 percent in June after increasing 0.2 percent the previous month. The index for food at home was unchanged over the month, while the index for food away from home rose 0.4 percent in June. The energy index rose 0.6 percent in June as the major energy component indexes were mixed.
The index for all items less food and energy also rose in the month by 0.2%, the smallest 1-month increase in that index since August 2021. The indexes that increased in June include
Shelter
Motor vehicle insurance
Apparel
Recreation
Personal care.
At the same time, some indexes decreased. They include:
Airline fares,
communications
Used vehicles
Household furnishing
Operations
The report also indicated that all items index increased 3.0% in the past 12 months ending June, the smallest increase since March 2021. It also indicated that all items food and energy index rose 4.8 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index decreased 16.7 percent for the 12 months ending June, and the food index increased 5.7 percent over the last year.
Percent changes in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. city average
BoE has released a Financial Stability Report stating that over 2 million households cannot manage to pay mortgages.
The report shows that over 2 million registered mortgage financiers will see monthly payments increase between $259 and $645 by the end of 2026.
Over 1 million financiers will see their monthly mortgage payments jump by more than £500 in the time frame.
UK mortgage financing is set to become harder for middle and struggling social classes as inflation worsens and BoE projects hikes of up to $645 in monthly payments.
No end in sight for UK Mortage agony
As reported by Fintech Express on July 11, there is no end in sight to UK Mortgage crisis agony. BoE has reported expected rises in monthly mortgage payments through 2026.
The Bank of England has warned that struggling homeowners are set to persevere more pain as UK Mortgages get adjusted and increased by up to $645. However, it has been added that stressed households today are more indebted than they were in the 2007 financial meltdown.
In the Wednesday Financial Stability Report, BoE said that its model shows that over 2 million UK mortgage holders will see monthly payments increase between £200 to £499 ($259 to $645) by the end of 2026. It added that over 1 million people will see their mortgages shoot up by £500 over the same timeframe
This report comes after the U.K.‘s average 2-year mortgage deal rose to its highest level since 2008, with the average 5-year mortgage deal following closely behind. The bank expects more pain in the markets as the inflation rates still run wild, which means more action must be taken to prevent embedding inflation.
As such, the expected interest rate hikes will bring more pain to the markets and mean higher mortgages for the borrowers. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
