DAILY UPDATE: Mobile Payment Fraud Up as Economy Grows and Stock Markets Extend Gains

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA

By Staff Reporters

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Alarmed by a surge in fraud draining bank accounts through popular mobile payment apps like Venmo, Cash App and Zelle, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., has sent scathing letters to the CEOs of each company, demanding immediate action to protect consumers.

In the letters, Bragg described the crimes as involving an unauthorized user gaining access to unlocked devices, then stealing significant sums of money from bank accounts by making purchases with the mobile payment apps and using financial information from them to open new accounts.

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And, the U.S. economy expanded at a 3.3% annualized pace in the final quarter of 2023, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

Why it matters: It’s much stronger growth than economists expected and caps a year of economic resilience as the nation avoided a projected recession.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index rose3.95 points (0.1%) to 4,868.55; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) lost 99.06 points (0.3%) to 37,806.39; the NASDAQ Composite gained 55.97 points (0.4%) to 15,481.92.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) increased about 4 basis points to 4.18%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.59 to 13.14.

Tech-related strength helped boost the NASDAQ-100® (NXD), which includes the NASDAQ’s largest non-financial companies, by 0.6% to a record close. Energy shares were also strong behind continued gains in WTI Crude Oil (/CL) futures, which rose 1.4% and settled near a two-month -high after the Energy Information Administration reported a 7.5% drop in U.S. oil production last week, reflecting disruptions from winter storms. Small-cap shares lagged as the Russell 2000® Index (RUT) fell 0.7%.

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DAILY UPDATE: August Red, Cannabis Green, Covid-19 and the Markets

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA

By Staff Reporters

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Despite a recent rally, stocks couldn’t climb out of the deep hole they dug themselves earlier in the month, and all three major indexes finished August in the red.

Cannabis companies were the clear winner following news that the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that green pot should be reclassified as a lower-risk substance.

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And, Anthony Fauci MD has said that there is “not going to be the tsunami of cases that we’ve seen” during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, following the emergence of two new variants of the virus. Speaking to the BBC, the former chief medical advisor to the president, who was regularly the face of the government’s response to the pandemic, played down the seriousness of the new strains, stressing that the vast majority of the population had enough immunity to prevent infections requiring medical intervention.

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Markets: The Dow wrapped up its best week since July as investors celebrated another rock-solid jobs report. The economy added 187,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8% from 3.5%—signs that the labor market is cooling, but not so fast that it’s likely to spark a recession.

Here is where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 Index was up 8.11 points (0.2%) at 4,515.77; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was up 115.80 points (0.3%) at 34,837.71, up 1.4% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite (COMP) was down 3.15 points at 14,031.81, up 3.2% for the week.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was up about 7 basis points at 4.177%.
  • CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.49 at 13.08.

Financial companies were among the strongest performers Friday, with the KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX) gaining about 2.5% to a three-week high.

Energy shares were also strong as WTI crude oil futures extended gains after the Energy Information Administration earlier this week reported a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. inventories. Crude futures surged nearly 3% to ended near $86 a barrel, the highest since mid-November. Consumer staples and consumer discretionary were among the weakest performers.

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