@ChetBLong

🔴 Federal Reserve’s Bostic says the Fed could raise interest rates by 0.50% at the next meeting, if needed. - FT interview

I'd say North Korea’s hacking apparatus is much less of a concern than its ally China.

NK has been used by China as a thorn in the West's side and won't dare upset Xi; in exchange China has massively aided their recent tech advancements. But the Chinese PLA's hackers have been hitting Western targets for many years now. The key thing China has been after and will continue to be is IP/intel. Why not more? Because we remain their largest importer of goods.

NK's missile program’s main purpose (from China’s perspective) will continue to be a red herring, while China continues to attempt to take over the South China Sea.

I watched documentary where N Korean hackers tried to steal billion dollars from few banks, and partially they succeeded to achieve portion of the mission. It was said that majority of the population might not have an electricity or internet, yet they have powerful hackers... Failure is not an option in that country so everyone give their 200%...

@Africuz

🔴 Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno says North Korea's "remarkable" development of missile and nuclear technology cannot be overlooked.

🔴 Matsuno says the recent repeated launches of missiles from NK are a serious issue for the entire international society. - statement

🔴 Indonesia's financial regulator says financial firms have been banned from using, marketing, and/or facilitating crypto asset trading. - statement

🟡 Global hedge fund industry assets top US$4 trillion for the first time. - HFR

🔴 Swiss National Bank's says does not see a benefit of issuing a retail central bank digital currency; SNB's focus is to look at wholesale CBDC. - statement

🔴 US producer price inflation rises 9.7% annually, as measured in December's PPI. - Refinitiv data

🔴 Pakistan's central bank recommends banning cryptocurrency, in documents submitted in an ongoing 2019 court case.

🔴 "After a careful risk-benefit analysis, it emerged that risks of cryptocurrency far outweigh its benefits for Pakistan," the report said. - Reuters

🔴 Net outflows in cryptocurrency investment products and funds reached a record US$207 million last week, according to data from digital asset manager CoinShares.

🔴 The sector has seen four consecutive weeks of withdrawals since mid-December, totaling US$465 million or 0.8% of total assets under management. - Reuters

🔴 US jobs report shows 199k jobs were added in December, far below market expectations for a rise of 450k.

🔴 US unemployment rate falls 0.3% to 3.9%, exceeding market expectations for a fall to 4.1%. - BLS and Refinitiv

🔴 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to allow businesses to pay state fees in cryptocurrency.

🔴 Florida will also launch pilot programs to explore the use of blockchain tech for Medicaid payments and vehicle titles. - Bloomberg

https://bloom.bg/3IzfiWY

🔴 Japanese study finds that Omicron is 420% more transmissible than Delta. - Bloomberg

https://bloom.bg/3GtxqQ8

🔴 China's Producer Price Index (PPI) rises 12.9% annually, as measured in Nov. Market expectations were for a 12.4% rise.

🔴 China's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rises 2.3% annually, as measured in Nov. Market expectations were for a 2.5% rise. - statistics release

🔴 US Senate votes 52-48 to overturn US President Biden's COVID vaccine/testing mandate for private businesses; the measure now goes to the US House. - Reuters

🔴 Hawaii says it Omircron has been detected in a case of community spread, where the person has no history of travel. - govt statement

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🔵 This is the first confirmed case of community spread in the US.