WSJ : Reddit Prices IPO at $34 a Share

Reddit Prices IPO at $34 a Share
Initial public offering was priced at the high end of its targeted range

Reddit priced its IPO at $34 a share, the high end of its targeted range, valuing the company at around $6.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

>>> US Close Dow +1.03% S&P +0.89% Nasdaq +1.25% Russell +1.92%

Closing Stock Market Summary
The stock market finished strong today, leaving the major indices at fresh record highs. The S&P 500 closed above 5,200 for the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 400 points, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.3%.

The market was in a holding pattern, though, until broad based buying activity started at 2:00 ET in response to the FOMC policy announcement. The committee voted unanimously to leave the target range for the fed funds rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50%. This was largely expected and was not the reason for increased buying activity.

The favorable reaction was in response to the closely-watched dot plot included in the updated Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), which showed that the Fed still anticipates three rate cuts this year despite recent inflation readings coming in hotter than expected.

Fed Chair Powell's press conference didn't deter the initial influx of buying. In fact, buying activity increased further while Mr. Powell was speaking. He largely reiterated prior comments, indicating that the Fed needs more evidence that inflation is moving toward the 2% target before cutting rates. Mr. Powell also said that it will be appropriate to slow the pace of asset runoff fairly soon.

Rate cut expectations moved up today. The implied likelihood of a June cut rose to 73.5% from 64.7% earlier today and 59.1% yesterday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Just about everything participated in the afternoon rally. Advancers lead decliners by a than 5-to-1 margin at the NYSE and by a 3-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. The equal-weighted S&P 500 closed up 0.9%.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed higher and six of them rose at least 1.0%. The consumer discretionary sector logged the largest gain, up 1.5%, followed by the communication services sector (+1.3%).

Treasuries also responded favorably to the FOMC decision today. The 2-yr note yield, which is most sensitive to changes in the fed funds rate, dropped eight basis points to 4.61% and the 10-yr note yield declined two basis points to 4.27%.
  • S&P 500:+9.5% YTD
  • Nasdaq Composite: +9.0% YTD
  • S&P Midcap 400: +5.7% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: +4.7% YTD
  • Russell 2000: +2.3% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:
  • Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index -1.6%; Prior 7.1%
  • Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories showed a draw of 1.95 million barrels following last week's draw of 1.54 million barrels.

Thursday's economic calendar features:
  • 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims ( consensus 216,000; prior 209,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.811 mln), and Q4 Current Account Balance ( consensus -$209.5 bln; prior -$200.3 bln)
  • 9:45 ET: Flash S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI (prior 52.2) and flash S&P Global U.S. Services PMI (prior 52.3)
  • 10:00 ET: February Existing Home Sales (consensus 3.92 mln; prior 4.00 mln) and February Leading Indicators (consensus -0.2%; prior 0.4%)
  • 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior -9 bcf)

FT : Bitcoin tumbles from record high as Grayscale ETF outflows hit $12bn

Bitcoin tumbles from record high as Grayscale ETF outflows hit $12bn
Cryptocurrency down 16% from its peak as net fund flows turn negative

Bitcoin has fallen 16 per cent from its all-time high last week, as the investor flows into new stock market funds that had driven a huge rally this year go into reverse.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, which hit $73,800 last Thursday, dropped as low as $60,760 on Wednesday before recovering to just under $63,000.

Its decline comes as outflows from the 11 new bitcoin exchange traded funds hit nearly $500mn in the last two days, according to data compiled by CoinShares, an asset management group. The greatest outflow was at Grayscale, the largest bitcoin ETF, which has had more than $1bn withdrawn from its fund this week.

Bitcoin has surged to record highs this year after US regulators approved spot bitcoin ETFs in January following a decade of rejections. Money has surged into some of the new funds, with BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF the fastest ETF in history to reach $10bn.

“The fact there’s regulated entities providing investment options into bitcoin is something that gives investors confidence, but it doesn’t alter the fundamental nature of bitcoin itself,” said Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at investment platform AJ Bell in London.

“There aren’t any fundamentals to bitcoin which give an anchor to the price, which makes it more vulnerable than other assets to major swings,” he added. “There is nothing there that you can use as a base for a valuation.”

The flow of money into the new ETFs since January has been tempered by consistent outflows at Grayscale, which has had withdrawals of more than $12bn since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved it to convert its bitcoin trust into an ETF.


On Wednesday there were a further $444mn of outflows, according to Bloomberg data. Grayscale has priced its ETF fees at 1.5 per cent, in contrast to rivals such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Investment and Bitwise, which have slashed or temporarily waived fees to attract new customers.

BlackRock, the most successful of the new ETFs, had inflows of $527mn this week but others, such as Invesco, Franklin Templeton and Valkyrie, had minimal inflows.

“There was a flight to other ETFs because of some of the disadvantages the Grayscale product had, but this is just a minor price correction,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX. “This setback is far away from any panic and concern or worry about bitcoin having some sort of extreme drop.”