Business briefs
By NewsPress Now
Bitcoin has surpassed the $100,000 mark
NEW YORK | Bitcoin topped $100,000 for the first time this week as a massive rally in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, largely accelerated by the election of Donald Trump, rolls on.
The cryptocurrency officially to rose six figures Wednesday night, just hours after the president-elect said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bitcoin has soared since Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5. The asset climbed from $69,374 on Election Day, hitting as high as $103,713 Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. And the latest all-time high arrives just two years after bitcoin dropped below $17,000 following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
Bitcoin fell back below the $100,000 by Thursday afternoon, sitting above $99,000 by 4 p.m. ET. Even amid a massive rally that has more than doubled the value of bitcoin this year, some experts continue to warn of investment risks around the asset, which has quite a volatile history.
FOX News loses
bid for Smartmatic voting-tech company’s records
NEW YORK | Smartmatic won’t be required to give FOX News a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines, a judge ruled Thursday.
FOX News and parent FOX Corp. sought the information to help fight Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation suit over broadcasts about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Smartmatic says its business was gutted when FOX aired false claims that the election-tech company helped rig the voting.
FOX says it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations made by then-President Donald Trump and his allies.
At the same hearing, Judge David B. Cohen also turned down Smartmatic’s request to question two FOX Corp. board members. The company has already questioned others.
The Aug. 8 indictment of Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate and two other executives concerns a geographically distant matter: Smartmatic’s efforts to get work in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018.
But FOX maintains the criminal case is pertinent to Smartmatic’s business prospects, and therefore to the election-tech company’s claims about what it lost and stands to lose because of FOX’s 2020 coverage.
“As of Aug 8, governments will have to take into account the risks of doing business with a company (where some executives have been) accused of serious corruption by the U.S. Department of Justice,” FOX lawyer Brad Masters told a New York court Thursday.
He asked the court to order Smartmatic to provide any documents that it has given to the DOJ for the bribery investigation; any customer inquiries about the criminal charges; and any staff communications about the matter and its impact on the company.
The indictment accuses Piñate and two other Smartmatic executives of scheming to pay over $1 million in bribes to a Filipino election official to deploy the company’s machines and pay promptly for them. Federal prosecutors say the payments were made through sham loan agreements and via a slush fund created by overcharging for the machines.
Piñate, who has served as Smartmatic’s president, and at least one of the other executives have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to money laundering. It’s unclear from court records whether the third executive has entered a plea or has an attorney who can comment on the charges.
Boca Raton, Florida-based Smartmatic itself isn’t charged in the criminal case. The company put the executives on leave and sought to reassure voters that elections are “conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.”
Smartmatic’s lawyers contend the indictment is irrelevant to the defamation suit, which is about election-fraud claims that Trump’s attorneys made on FOX News programs.
The indictment is “merely an allegation,” Smartmatic attorney Caitlin Kovacs argued Thursday. She suggested FOX wanted to “play prosecutor to the jury” and “accuse Smartmatic of a crime that they didn’t commit.”
Cohen denied two similar requests from FOX while the federal investigation was ongoing. He said Thursday that the indictment didn’t change his mind.
“It’s a mere accusation. It raises no presumption of guilt,” he said.
Smartmatic is suing over shows in which Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell portrayed the company as part of a broad conspiracy to steal the 2020 vote from Trump, a Republican and the winner of this year’s election.
Federal and state election officials, exhaustive reviews in battleground states and Trump’s own then-attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. Nor did they uncover any credible evidence that the vote was tainted. Dozens of judges, including some whom Trump appointed, rejected his fraud claims.
FOX News ultimately aired an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations against Smartmatic.
As is normal in the run-up to a civil trial, various players connected to both parties have been questioned under oath by the other side’s lawyers. These out-of-court sessions are called depositions.
Smartmatic wanted Thursday to get depositions ordered for FOX Corp. board members Chase Carey and Roland Hernandez. The two attended meetings where critical decisions were made, Smartmatic argues.
FOX lawyer Devin Anderson said there’s no indication that Carey and Hernandez “have any relevant information” to add. Smartmatic already has questioned other board members, including Executive Chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, as well as FOX founder Rupert Murdoch, the attorney said.
Depositions generally aren’t made public at this stage of a case.
Smartmatic lawyer Erik Connolly said after court that the company was pursuing other information to show “that FOX Corp. controlled the disinformation spread by FOX News.”
A message seeking comment was sent to FOX. The news network is countersuing Smartmatic, claiming the defamation case violates a New York law against baseless suits aimed at squelching reporting or criticism on public issues.
Smartmatic recently settled defamation suits against One America News Network and Newsmax. FOX News settled for $787 million last year with another voting-technology company, Dominion Voting Systems.
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage
in the U.S. falls
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased again this week, slipping to its lowest level since late October.
The rate dropped to 6.69% from 6.81% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.03%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also eased this week. The average rate fell to 5.96% from 6.1% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.29%, Freddie Mac said.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the moves in the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to price home loans.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now at its lowest level since October 24, when it was at 6.54%.
Mortgage rates have been mostly rising in recent weeks since sliding to a two-year low of 6.08% in late September after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate from a two-decade high for the first time in more than four years. While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its actions and the trajectory of inflation influence the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield.
Many expect that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets in two weeks.
Elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices have kept homeownership out of reach of many would-be homebuyers. U.S. home sales are on track for their worst year since 1995.
Despite an overall uptick in mortgage rates since September, applications for a home loan have been rising. Mortgage applications rose 2.8% last week from the previous week, adjusting for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
And the MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of purchase loan applications rose for the fourth week in a row last week, reaching its highest level since January.
“The recent strength in purchase activity continues, supported by lower rates and higher inventory levels, which are giving prospective buyers more options compared to earlier in the year,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s deputy chief economist.
Still, with home prices near all-time highs and still rising nationally, albeit more slowly, many would-be homebuyers are likely holding out for mortgage rates to ease further in coming months.
But there may not be much relief, given that many housing economists predict the average rate on a 30-year mortgage will generally hover around 6.5% next year.
“With home prices expected to rise and rates projected to remain in the 6s through 2025, many of those buyers will still be priced out,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS.
U.S. applications
for jobless benefits rise last week
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains at historically healthy levels.
Jobless claim applications rose by 9,000 to 224,000 for the week of Nov. 30, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than the 214,000 analysts were forecasting.
Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, fell by 25,000 to 1.87 million for the week of Nov. 23. That’s down from the three-year high levels it had been at the past few weeks.
The four-week average of weekly claims, which quiets some of the weekly volatility, rose by 750 to 218,250.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs.
While the job markets has shown some softening recently, it remains healthy and has exceeded most expectations considering that interest rates have been elevated in recent years. The Federal Reserve jacked up rates in 2022 and into 2023 in an attempt to squelch the sky-high inflation that developed when the U.S. economy rebounded from the brief but sharp pandemic recession.
The Fed has cut its benchmark rate at its last two meetings in response to receding inflation, which has fallen close to the U.S. central bank’s 2% target.
Earlier this week, the government reported that U.S. job openings rebounded to 7.7 million in October from a 3 1/2 year low of 7.4 million in September, a sign that businesses are still seeking workers even though hiring has cooled.
In October, U.S. employers added a paltry 12,000 jobs, a total that economists say was crimped by the effects of strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off payrolls.
Analysts forecast that the government will report on Friday that U.S. employers added 215,000 jobs in November, a healthy figure more in line with recent months.
—From AP reports
