Member Info for HopeGreedNothing

buying back oil for SR. 3 million barrels to start.

Lisa Hooker, industry leader for consumer markets at PwC, said: “November’s retail sales figures starkly indicate the growing gap between how much we are spending and what we are getting in return, which reflects the record high inflation reported earlier this week.
“Excluding petrol, there was a 3.6 per cent increase in pounds spent compared with this time last year, but a 5.9 per cent decline in the volume of goods bought. As a result, retail sales volumes continue to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, reflecting how the cost-of-living crisis has affected how much shoppers can buy.”

Retail sales fell unexpectedly in November as Black Friday discounts and early Christmas shopping were not enough to offset the impact of soaring prices.
Total sales of goods and services across the economy fell by 0.4 per cent last month compared with a revised 0.9 per cent rise in October, when there was a bounceback from the extra bank holiday for the Queen’s funeral the previous month, the latest Office for National Statistics figures show. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a rise of 0.3 per cent.
Inflation fell to 10.7 per cent in November, down from 11.1 per cent the previous month, because of a drop in fuel price growth, but it remains close to a 40-year high. The squeeze on household incomes over the past year is expected to push the UK into a recession by the end of the year, despite a brief return to growth in October.
The latest retail sales figures add to evidence that an economic downturn is on the way, with sales volumes down by 4.5 per cent since the start of the year.
Online shopping sales continued their downward trend, falling by 2.8 per cent in November. Shopping online surged during the pandemic but has fallen gradually since shops reopened early last year. It is still 18.2 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.
Sales of food items rose despite food inflation at a 45-year high of 16.4 per cent as households sought to spread out the cost of their Christmas shopping and avoid delayed deliveries owing to strike action. Sales volumes rose by 0.9 per cent in November, the ONS said.
Nonetheless, a 6.2 per cent fall in the sales of “other goods”, which includes big ticket items such as computers, drove down total volumes.
Olivia Cross, assistant economist at the Capital Economics consultancy, said: “The ONS estimates that longer Black Friday sales helped drive a 1.7 per cent month-on-month rise in department shop sales volumes and a 4.4 per cent month-on-month rise in household goods sales volumes. And the ONS suggested that some of the 0.9 per cent month-on-month rise in food sales was due to earlier-than-usual Christmas-related sales, as households aim to spread the cost of Christmas purchases. But that was more than offset by weakness elsewhere.”
She added: “We doubt there is a sustained recovery in retail sales volumes in the pipeline. Although inflation fell from 11.1 per cent in October to 10.7 per cent in November, that clearly did not ease the squeeze from high prices on retail sales volumes much. We expect that high inflation will drive further falls in real household disposable income of 1.1 per cent in Q4 2022, which will keep sales volumes subdued in December.”

PI - think I’ll keep popping in and out. 100% not invested in argo anymore and TFFT.

PI - still waiting on that blu day you kept promising, been nothing but red, over 50% down since you stated ‘blu day tomorrow’ Hope no one listened to you.

Y11 - your 8p drop was hit after opening, not over 8 day period. If the price is 460 at close next Friday then I’ll tip my hat.

HC - like your posts, but if you really suggesting argo problems are because the didn’t raise at 30p then you have been hitting the egg nog a bit early.

y11- you actual said 4p but why let the facts get in the way of your self-aggrandising. Yes the day is not over, but you just couldn’t wait.

But the price is 3.375?

2nd of December that note, one of the big boys finally hit a target, somethings wrong.

JPMorgan cuts THG to 'underweight' (neutral) - price target 54 (42) pence

TT - i was slow to the party, also spent the last two years following the crypto space where 42% really isn’t a lot. However I get your point 42% not to be sniffed at especially with this big tanker.

This sure is one slow boat to China.

Still better than losing money I suppose.

BB - i four-can hope not.

TORONTO and BROSSARD, QUÉBEC, Dec. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ: BITF // TSX: BITF), a global Bitcoin self-mining company, today announced that on December 13, 2022 it received a written notification (the “Notification Letter”) from the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that, for the last thirty consecutive business days, the bid price for the Company’s common shares (the “Shares”) had closed below the minimum US$1.00 per share requirement for continued listing on Nasdaq under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Minimum Bid Price Requirement”).
In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the Company has been provided an initial period of 180 calendar days, or until June 12, 2023 (the “Compliance Deadline”), to regain compliance. The letter states that the Nasdaq staff will provide written notification that the Company has achieved compliance with Rule 5550(a)(2) if at any time before June 12, 2023, the bid price of the Company’s Shares closes at US$1.00 per share or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days. The Nasdaq letter is only a notification of deficiency and has no immediate effect on the listing or trading of the Company’s Shares and the Shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol “BITF.” The Company’s Shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Notification Letter does not affect the Company’s compliance status with such listing nor does it affect the Company’s business operations or financial condition.
The Company intends to continually monitor the bid price of its Shares and, to the extent necessary, evaluate available options to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price rule within the compliance period. If the Company does not regain compliance with Rule 5550(a)(2) by June 12, 2023, the Company may be eligible for an additional 180 calendar day compliance period.

Market players also pointed to concerns about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the world’s largest bitcoin fund with $10.9 billion in assets. Parent company Digital Currency Group, which owns Genesis Trading, owes $575 million to Genesis’ crypto lending arm, DCG’s CEO told shareholders on Nov. 22.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s discount to its net asset value, is at an all-time low of 48% and shares have not traded at a premium since March 2021, Coinglass data showed.
DCG last month said troubles at Genesis’ lending business had no impact on DCG and its subsidiaries, while Grayscale maintained it was business as usual and its underlying assets were unaffected.
“This could be the other shoe to drop,” said McMillan, referring to the possibility of Grayscale running into financial trouble. “That said, if bitcoin can hold the $15,000 line through the DCG workout, that would be a strong indicator going into 2023.
A more hawkish than expected Federal Reserve at its final meeting of the year on Wednesday could further erode risk appetite and bitcoin’s prospects, crypto watchers said.
GETTING TECHNICAL
The scenarios of bitcoin leaping to $30,000 or tumbling to $5,000 in 2023 were long-shot possibilities flagged by VanEck and Standard Chartered, respectively.
When it comes to the technicals, several analysts pointed to indicators showing bitcoin may have found support between $16,000 and $16,800.
The cryptocurrency could also run into resistance around the $17,490 level, said Eddie Tofpik, head of technical analysis at ADM Investor Services, cautioning that any long-term rally was likely to be challenging.
“Anytime we see a rally, it’s one step up and then two or three steps down,” he said.
Vetle Lunde, analyst at Arcane Research, said long-term bets could be appealing in the wake of the November turmoil.
Nonetheless, uncertainty reigns.
“Bear in mind that massive drawdowns tend to be followed by a long-lasting directionless market filled with apathy and unfathomable second-guessing,” Lunde added.

(Reuters) - Plucky bitcoin’s been holding steady since seeing off the chaos of the FTX collapse, gathering its strength to rally towards the dizzy heights of $30,000 in 2023.
Battered bitcoin’s been unresponsive since being clobbered by the FTX collapse, taking in a deep ragged breath before plunging towards the depths of $5,000.
Place your bets, spin the wheel.
The world’s dominant cryptocurrency has certainly been uncharacteristically muted over the past two weeks, treading water between about $15,770 and $17,350 in the eerie wake of the FTX-induced market mini-crash in November.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
“The question we need to be asking ourselves now is: Are there any sellers left in this market? To my mind, no, there aren’t that many left,” said Jacob Sansbury, co-founder of retail investor services firm Pluto.
Sansbury believes most over-leveraged miners, who tend to be large holders of bitcoin, have exited positions to pay off debts taken out in traditional money to fund their equipment and operations.
Indeed bitcoin’s recent calmness could be down to the fact that there are fewer coins to sell: the amount held on exchanges for trading stands at 1.97 million, Coinglass data shows, down steeply from 2.33 million at the start of the year.
Major offloading has already taken place; November saw a 7-day realized loss of $10.16 billion in bitcoin investments as investors were forced to exit long-term positions, the fourth-largest loss on record by this measure, according to Glassnode data.
The cryptocurrency has already dropped more than 60% in 2022 and set to see its first annual loss since 2018.
Many remaining investors are placing their bitcoin into offline “cold storage” according to on-chain data, which should strengthen a floor price around $16,000, said Bob Ras, co-founder of Sologenic, an exchange and digital asset firm.
“Barring any more surprises in the market, it’s hard to imagine BTC going significantly lower,” he added.
Ras believes that if it wasn’t for the high-profile collapse of crypto players FTX, Celsius and Terra this year, the price of bitcoin would be close to $25,000 now.
But this is crypto, and more surprises could well be in store, with a number of potential selling triggers on the horizon.
THE BEAR’S TALE
First potential peril is the risk of more bitcoin miners being forced to sell their holdings to stay afloat, as mining becomes increasingly expensive.
“Miners as a group start to become unprofitable under $20,000, so we’re below (that) point,” noted Ben McMillan, chief investment officer at IDX Digital Assets.
CrytpoQuant’s miner reserve indicator, which tracks the amount of bitcoin held in miners’ wallets, has dropped by about 7,722 bitcoin since November.

BB - Damned it is then.

Eliminates risks associated with custodial exchanges by delivering bitcoin directly to customers
TORONTO, Dec. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marking its official launch today, Beaver Bitcoin is a non-custodial exchange that allows Canadians to set up an automatic weekly bitcoin purchase, directly from their bank account. From now until the end of the year customers can try the service for free.
A popular buying strategy that avoids speculation in a volatile market, the goal of an automatic weekly purchase is simple: accumulate more bitcoin over time. Beaver’s chosen method of delivering bitcoin directly to customers adheres to Bitcoin’s core value of self-custody and eliminates the risks associated with custodial exchanges.
“We’ve seen how custodial exchanges can misuse customer funds to engage in highly risky trades. When these exchanges collapse and declare bankruptcy, customers lose everything,” said Aubrey Jesseau, founder and CEO of Beaver Bitcoin. “We see an opportunity to serve Canadians in a way that existing platforms and exchanges have not. We’ve streamlined the experience of buying bitcoin, making it accessible to the next wave of bitcoin adopters in Canada.”??The non-custodial exchange operates by delivering bitcoin to a bitcoin address controlled by the customer, immediately once it is purchased - the exchange never holds bitcoin on behalf of the customer.
An exceptional user experience that appeals to both beginner and seasoned Bitcoiners, Beaver Bitcoin customers can choose their weekly bitcoin buy amount in Canadian dollars, track the status of bank transfers and completed purchases, and pause or cancel their buy at any time. For receiving and holding bitcoin, the company recommends new users try the mobile bitcoin wallet BlueWallet, available in app stores.

FTX ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried ‘arrested in the Bahamas’
The former CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has reportedly been arrested in the Bahamas.
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Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on Monday after US prosecutors filed criminal charges against him, stated the government of the Bahamas.
‘SBF’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition,’ stated the Bahamas government.