Global TradFi & Macroeconomics

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the acquisition of 570,000 barrels of diesel from Brunei and South Korea during his visit to Malaysia. This marks the first strategic material secured under new procurement powers aimed at strengthening energy cooperation in Southeast Asia.

Nvidia's new AI product suite, Ising, launched on April 14, enhances quantum error correction, boosting speed by 2.5 times and accuracy by three times. This announcement spurred a significant rise in quantum computing stocks, indicating strong market interest, even amid volatility.

GoTyme Bank has introduced an in-app stock trading feature, allowing users to invest in the Philippine Stock Exchange directly from their banking app. This service, in partnership with DragonFi Securities, aims to simplify investment for new and existing customers.

Wipro reported Q4 revenue of 242.4 billion rupees, a 7.7% increase but below expectations. The decline reflects decreased tech spending from clients, particularly Estee Lauder, and a broader trend in the Indian IT sector towards specialized hiring amid AI adoption.

Crypto ETP issuer 21Shares AG, headquartered in Zurich, has launched its Strategy Yield ETP (ticker: 21ST), which has been listed on Xetra and four other European exchanges. According to a 21Shares announcement, this is the company’s first ETP providing exposure to equity-related instrument structures, with the underlying asset being priority securities issued by MicroStrategy (Strategy).

Tennessee's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill is advancing to a Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 20, moving closer to potential enactment into law.

CoreWeave raised $6.7 billion in high-yield debt, including a record $5.7 billion issue led by Morgan Stanley, to finance two data centers for Fluidstack. This reflects a surge in demand for AI-related infrastructure amid shortages.

Gate News message, April 17, according to Gate market data, as of the time of writing, PEPE (PEPE) is trading at $0.00000396. It is up 5.29% over the past 24 hours, with a high of $0.00000406 and a low of $0.00000372. The 24-hour trading volume is $6.3415 million. The current market cap is approximately $1.66B. PEPE is a meme coin designed to become the most flexible meme coin. The project emphasizes that there are no taxes, the liquidity tokens have been burned, and the contract permissions have been renounced. It is a permanent token for everyone. PEPE’s total supply is 420,690,000,000,000, driven entirely by pure meme power. Recent important updates on PEPE: 1️⃣ *

U.S. stock indices closed higher on April 16, with the S&P 500 reaching a record. Tech stocks surged, particularly within the semiconductor sector and Chinese companies. Crude oil prices rose, while precious metals declined. Analysts offer mixed views on the rally's sustainability amidst geopolitical tensions involving Israel and Lebanon.

Charles Schwab announced recently that it will launch spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services for qualified U.S. retail customers, with a trading fee of 0.75%. The service will be maintained by a bank subsidiary of Charles Schwab. It will initially not support residents of New York State and Louisiana; in the future, it plans to add more cryptocurrencies and deposit and withdrawal features.

Circle faces a class action lawsuit for failing to freeze $230 million in stolen USDC after the Drift Protocol attack. Plaintiffs argue that Circle's protocols allowed attackers to move and convert the stolen funds without intervention, raising concerns about the company's responsibilities in monitoring cross-chain transfers.

Allbirds, struggling with a recent pivot to AI and rebranding as NewBird AI, faced a 36% stock drop after a meme stock surge. Analysts view this volatility as driven by emotions rather than fundamentals, mirroring similar trends in other companies.

TSMC and ASML's positive outlook suggests major tech firms will continue to invest heavily in AI chips and data centers. Spending is expected to surpass $600 billion this year, driven by capacity constraints and demand from hyperscalers like Microsoft and Amazon.

Changguang Hanxin debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with shares priced at HK$39.88, raising HK$2.504 billion. The stock surged 80.54% on its first day. The company ranks third globally in CMOS image sensors for industrial and scientific imaging.

Quark Robotics debuted on the Hong Kong IPO market at HK$7.62, raising about HK$1.092 billion. The stock soared 171.65% to HK$20.7. The firm, part of the "Hangzhou Six Dragons," leads China's spatial design software market with a 23.2% share.

Bitcoin (BTC) is flat at $74,920. A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has taken effect, and Trump says Iran agreed not to develop nuclear weapons. Mizuho Bank warns that Musk’s X Money could be affected by New York’s crypto regulation. Yuga Labs replaces its CEO: Greg Solano becomes Chairman of the Board, and Michael Figge takes over. The market is broadly optimistic. A record-high Bitcoin buying wave in the past decade has emerged, suggesting the price may be moving toward $90,000.

Tesla's in-house AI chip production expansion is expected to increase demand for low-power DRAM from Samsung and SK Hynix. New chips AI6 and AI6.5 will utilize the LPDDR6 standard, enhancing performance significantly.

Hong Kong stocks opened lower on April 17, with the Hang Seng Index down 0.69% and the Hang Seng Tech Index down 0.72%. Qunhe Technology surged over 170% on its debut, while Ganfeng Lithium projected a quarterly profit turnaround.

Intel shares surged 38% in April and 65% year to date, driven by AI partnerships and manufacturing advancements. The company regained full control of its Ireland plant and has secured contracts with major clients like Google, yet remains below its 2020 peak.

Gate News: According to the latest Gate TradFi data, MINIMAX (MINIMAX-W 00100.HK) has surged by 6% in a short period. Current volatility is significantly higher than recent averages, indicating increased market