Weekly Bitpanda Market Recap #10 - Insights from the world of investing

News from the crypto world

The crypto market has seen a ranging path lately, but last week some coins started regaining their strength after a few difficult weeks earlier this month. Bitcoin is slowly bouncing back in the green, along with Ethereum and Cardano, while Solana and Terra posted major gains. 

Terra gains ground

Perhaps one of the only altcoins seemingly unaffected by the crash earlier in December, Terra outshone many other altcoins this week with a surge of almost +14% within just one day and more than +40% over the past seven days. LUNA saw a great increase in its market cap and it gained so much ground that it is currently the ninth-biggest crypto by market cap, pushing Polkadot out of the way. 

The Bitcoin book

Lately, crypto has been in the limelight more and more often. Governments and institutions are discussing regulations, policies, crypto taxation and more. In some places, crypto enthusiasts feel that politicians and state organisations require more information and education on the topic. To solve this problem, eight Bitcoin fans launched a Kickstarter campaign and are working on a book for the U.S. government and policymakers, to both provide guidance about crypto and to “dispel the notion that it's nerd money”, as stated by the leader of the campaign, Jimmy Song.

News from the stock market

Recent earnings reports:

• Blackberry (BB): December 21

Stock market performance

The stock market put in a fluctuating performance this week, with some sectors performing better than average. Major U.S. and European indices closed in the red and plunged on Monday. However, European indices regained some healthy percentage points soon after. Market sentiment remains fearful and the Omicron variant is still a matter of concern for investors with pharmaceutical stocks such as BioNTech*, Moderna*, Pfizer* and Novavax* closing safely in the green.  

Microsoft ranked #1 in 2021

As the end of December is approaching, Yahoo Finance has been drawing its annual conclusions on thousands of companies and has crowned two very well-known names in the tech sector as the best and worst of the year. The winner was Microsoft*, which saw a 53% stock surge in 2021. Microsoft won against the competition thanks to its overall performance and the milestones it achieved this year. 

Meta hasn’t won the heart of the public yet

Things haven’t been looking as peachy for Meta*, which ranked the worst of the year out of 1,000+ companies considered by Yahoo Finance. However, this gloomy title isn’t owed to market considerations, but to reactions and experience as a result of the change. In the case of Meta, many aren’t fond of the recent developments, while others have concerns regarding privacy and data security. Only time will tell if Meta will manage to win the public back.

Disclaimer

This article does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an offer or invitation to purchase any digital assets.

This article is for general purposes of information only and no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of this article or opinions contained herein. *Bitpanda Stocks are contracts replicating an underlying stock or ETF. More information and the PRIIPs key information document (KID) are available at bitpanda.com.