US Cryptocurrency Reserves, Stock Market Reviews of Companies and Geopolitical News
Stock market news
• It was a day of celebration for cryptocurrency fans after President Donald Trump took to social media to announce that the proposed digital asset reserve would include Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana and Cardano. Bitcoin rose about 10% and Ethereum jumped 13% before retreating slightly as details of how the fund would work were unclear and will presumably be outlined at a White House crypto summit on Friday.
Analysts have questioned how exactly the reserve would be funded, given that the government is $36 trillion in debt, so borrowing to buy cryptocurrency could seem like a tall order. Some have suggested that the government could use cryptocurrency confiscated in criminal cases in recent years, though this would be a paper transfer rather than actual new demand.
• It is also unclear whether Trump's 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Tuesday, and an additional 10% on China, will go into effect. U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick said Sunday that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect Tuesday, but Trump would decide whether to stick to the planned 25% level, suggesting it is not a done deal.
There has also been speculation that Trump could soften the blow if Mexico and Canada agree to impose their own tariffs on Chinese imports and/or the tariffs could be delayed until April 1, when a trade study is due to be completed.
• The stakes are all the higher because recent U.S. economic data delivered a negative surprise, sending the Atlanta Fed's popular GDP tracker swinging from +2.3% to -1.5%. Tariffs are essentially a tax on American consumers, and analysts expect them to hurt consumption at a time when the United States no longer looks so exceptional.
Only the threat of tariffs caused imports to surge in January, easily pushing the U.S. trade deficit to its highest level ever. That would normally mean a significant drag on GDP from net exports, though analysts say much of the jump in imports may have come from non-monetary gold, which would not count toward GDP.
• Markets are not set up for weaker data, and a miss to the ISM 50.5 forecast today will likely boost bonds at the expense of stocks. Markets have already priced in 73 basis points of Fed cuts by January next year, when just a few weeks ago investors thought a quarter-point cut might be a stretch.
All of this makes Friday's payroll data even more important, especially given that Fed Chair Powell is scheduled to speak just hours after the data is released.
• Beijing's possible response to tariffs, if they are imposed, is also unknown. China's National People's Congress meets on Wednesday and is expected to announce 2-3 trillion yuan ($274-412 billion) in new stimulus and possibly a crackdown on any U.S. action.
• Trump announced the creation of a “Cryptocurrency Strategic Reserve,” which will include XRP, SOL, and ADA.
Trump hasn’t forgotten BTC and ETH either: The U.S. cryptocurrency reserve will boost this critical industry after years of corruption attacks by the Biden administration.
On this news, crypto soared by 10-20% yesterday. Bitcoin returned to $93,000.
• The Blue Ghost spacecraft of the private company Firefly from the USA successfully landed on the Moon. As the organization itself stated, it became the first commercial company in history to make a completely successful landing on the Earth's satellite.
• Changpeng Zhao (Binance) proposed a new mechanism for issuing tokens. 10% are issued for the development of the project, and further unlocking is possible only with an increase in the price, the rest are blocked by a smart contract, and the key is controlled by a third party.
Why is this important?
- Dump protection - tokens will not enter the market at a low price.
- Team motivation - price growth is beneficial to the developers themselves.
- Flexibility - the team can postpone or reduce unlocking, but not speed up the process or increase the limit.
• Cryptocurrency losses from hacker attacks reached a record $1.51 billion in February. February 2025 was the most destructive month in the history of crypto assets in terms of the volume of stolen funds, experts from PeckShield said. As a result of 20 hacks, total losses reached $1.51 billion.
• BlackRock's 'woke' era is over - WSJ The asset manager has pulled out of climate groups and abandoned diversification goals in an attempt to put the ESG controversy behind it.
• TSLA stock could rise 1000% in 5 years - Musk.
• SoftBank is in talks to borrow $16 billion to finance AI, The Information reports.
• YouTube is planning to launch a cheaper Premium Lite subscription. The subscription will allow you to watch videos and podcasts without ads. The Premium Lite subscription will first be available in the US, Australia, Germany and Thailand. The new subscription has been tested in other countries for several months. How much Premium Lite will cost is still unknown.
Premium Lite may have changed the monetization system for content creators, since advertising is the main source of income on the platform.
• The White House will host its first Crypto Summit next Friday, March 7, Bloomberg reported, with Trump, CEOs, investors and members of the President's Task Force on Digital Assets, including David Sachs and Bo Hynes.
• Google (GOOGL) has announced plans for an internal reorganization that affects its human resources and cloud organizations.
The tech giant is offering a voluntary separation program to employees based in the U.S. as part of efforts to streamline operations and focus on long-term priorities.
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) unveiled its new AMD RDNA 4 graphics architecture with the launch of the Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards. Part of the Radeon RX 9000 series, these products promise an enhanced gaming experience with advanced AI and ray tracing accelerators.
• Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) shares fell after the Trump administration ordered a review of $65 billion in government contracts, much of which comes from government contracts.
• Rocket Lab USA (RKL) saw its stock price fall after announcing it would push back its debut Neutron launch to the second half of 2025.
Despite the delay, the company highlighted new developments such as a lander and a low-cost Flatellite satellite aimed at improving communications and remote sensing capabilities.
• Sergey Brin says 60-hour week is 'sweet spot' for productivity Google co-founder Sergey Brin sent a memo to employees this week urging them to return to the office "at least every weekday" to help the company win the AGI race, The New York Times reports.
• Super Micro (SMCI) insiders dumped millions of dollars in shares after getting Nasdaq's OK to file financials. The server maker missed its annual and quarterly financial reporting deadlines but met Nasdaq's Feb. 25 deadline.
• Xiaomi's auto business now outpaces Tesla and Rivian, the Chinese electric car maker that threatens Ford and GM. Lei Jun has set himself the goal of building a "Chinese apple."
• Bessent says housing market will 'unfreeze' in weeks, sees inflation at 2% - Bloomberg
• OpenAI plans to port Sora video generator to ChatGPT. OpenAI plans to eventually integrate its Sora video generation tool directly into the popular consumer chatbot ChatGPT, company executives said during a Friday business session on Discord.
• US President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, his first speech since being re-elected.
Last week, Trump announced that tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico would go into effect on Tuesday, as well as a doubling of the existing tariff on goods from China.
• Market participants can look forward to comments this week from Fed member Michelle Bowman and New York Fed President John Williams.
• The latest jobs report for February, due on Friday, will also be in focus amid concerns about a weakening labour market.
• Also expected are data updates on consumer credit, the US trade balance, factory orders, the manufacturing business activity index and the purchasing managers' index (PMI), as well as scheduled reports from Broadcom (AVGO), Costco (COST), Target (TGT) and others.
Key events likely to impact markets on Monday:
- EU preliminary CPI for February; PMI data for Europe, the UK and the US; ISM survey for February in the US.
- Speeches by ECB Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Maria Buch and Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis President Alberto Musalem.
Fundamental news
• Trump's team sees the Nord Stream 2 restart project as an asset that can be used in negotiations on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine - Financial Times.
• The US has accelerated the provision of $4 billion in military aid to Israel in order to “fulfill obligations.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a declaration to accelerate deliveries.
• Donald Trump has long admired the power of the presidency, the desire to take revenge on enemies - and has been obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize. That was one of the hidden reasons for the explosive scandal during Trump's meeting with Zelensky on Friday at the White House - Axios, citing sources.
• We may be witnessing the last days of NATO - James Stavridis "I think we are moving towards, I don't want to overstate or be dramatic, that we are seeing the last days of NATO," said the former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
If NATO were to collapse, a new "European Treaty Organization" could emerge in its place, Stavridis added.
• Musk supports the idea of the US withdrawing from NATO and the UN.
• Iran advocated resuming talks with the United States on the country's nuclear deal and lifting economic sanctions on Tehran, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said. He noted that the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had spoken out against such a dialogue.
• Protests demanding the arrest of Elon Musk have taken place in the United States. The protests took place outside Tesla stores in the country's largest cities. They were provoked by the fact that Musk, in the opinion of the protesters, is using his influence for radical "transformations that could harm the state."
• Americans' confidence in Trump's ability to handle the economy is declining, the primary reason he used to justify his 2024 reelection bid - The Hill.
Concerns about affordability, jobs and inflation are weighing on Trump's economic ratings amid worsening consumer sentiment and a flurry of economic warning signs, including a negative outlook for first-quarter GDP growth.
• China has discovered a huge thorium reserve - a potential 'unlimited' energy source - SCMP. The deposit is estimated to contain up to 1 million tonnes of thorium, which could be an effective alternative to uranium as it produces less waste and reduces the risk of accidents.
Authorities see thorium as a path to energy independence and a shift away from fossil fuels.
• Merz's party announced his imminent meeting with Trump. "Merz will meet with Trump as soon as possible and, I hope, will already have an increase in defense spending with him," Johann Wadephul, deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
• A Norwegian company has refused to supply fuel to the US military until Trump leaves office. The country's defence minister has denied this.
• Canada will extend its mineral exploration tax credit for another two years as part of the government's efforts to support investment in exploration, energy and natural resources, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Sunday.
• Trump moves to boost lumber supply, curb timber imports - AP President Donald Trump signed a series of measures Saturday to boost domestic lumber production. He also ordered an investigation into the national security risks posed by lumber imports, laying the legal groundwork for new tariffs.
• The US will start a war with Mexico if they do not meet Trump's demands on the border, WSJ cites the US Department of Defense.
• Italy is reported to propose an emergency summit with the US, European countries and allies in the coming hours, Italian Prime Minister Meloni said.
• Orban calls on EU to start peace talks with Moscow over Ukraine - FT.
• Mexico is considering imposing tariffs on Chinese goods to avoid a 25% tariff from the United States.
• The Pentagon is halting all military cyber operations against Russia. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has instructed the US Cyber Command to halt offensive cyber operations against Russia, The Record reported, citing sources.
• Reuters: Israel Lobbies to Maintain Russian Military Bases in Syria. According to the agency's sources, the Israeli authorities are calling on the United States to maintain Russia's Tartus and Khmeimim military bases in Syria, fearing that otherwise Turkey's influence in the country will grow excessively. To this end, they are lobbying among American politicians.
• For the second time over the weekend, federal employees were sent an email asking them to describe their accomplishments from the previous week. But this time, it was announced that it would be an ongoing process.
• Norway's largest supplier of marine fuel, Haltbakk Bunkers, has stopped serving the US Navy following recent events at the White House.