Fake Bitcoin ETF Announcement

And, Intuitive Surgical's sales growth.

Today is Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

The Early Bird Index today is 63.65.

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Fake Bitcoin ETF Announcement

False Alarm! A message was posted on the X account for the U.S. SEC on Tuesday afternoon about the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds), but it turned out to be a fake announcement.

Details: The SEC confirmed that the Bitcoin ETF announcement from its X account was false. The agency said that its X account was “compromised” and that it has not approved any Bitcoin ETF applications yet.

Price: The sudden news (and reversal) resulted in some wild swings in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin’s price jumped initially, and then eventually fell after the SEC said that announcement was fake. Bitcoin dropped about 1% on Tuesday.

Zooming In: Over $50 million worth of derivatives trading positions on crypto exchanges were liquidated as a result of the incident, according to CoinDesk.

Also: Crypto stocks were also impacted. Coinbase Global (Nasdaq: COIN) fell by 0.81% in after-hours trading.

Background: This fake announcement comes as investors are waiting for the SEC to decide on the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF. A decision will likely come this week. The approval would give investors another opportunity to buy Bitcoin and it would legitimize crypto as a real investment.

Final Thoughts: An investigation needs to be conducted about the fake announcement. Meanwhile, investors are still waiting for the real spot Bitcoin ETF news this week.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Richardson Electronics (Nasdaq: RELL).

Notable IPOs Today: N/A.

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Driven (Wefunder), Garageskins (StartEngine), Bimotal (Wefunder), Pawcasso Treats (Honeycomb).

Notable Economic Events Today: Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m. ET).

Intuitive Surgical's Sales Growth

Shares of Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) jumped 5.28% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the robotic products company posted strong preliminary financial results.

Financials: Intuitive Surgical said that revenue grew 17% to $1.93 billion in the past quarter, which was better than expected

Powering the Story: Higher volume and pricing for instruments and accessories in the quarter drove the results up.

Stock Price: In the past 12 months, Intuitive Surgical is up 21%. The stock is up 4% in the last 30 days.

Final Thoughts: Intuitive Surgical’s previous financial results were not strong at all, so it is refreshing that the company is growing sales and seeing better demand.

Lennar’s New Stock Buyback

Shares of the homebuilder Lennar (NYSE: LEN) ticked up 1.10% in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The company is increasing its dividend from $1.50 per share to $2.00 per share and it is spending an additional $5 billion on stock buybacks.

Quote: “Given the strength of our balance sheet, our strong cash position and our operating strategy driving cash flow, we are focusing more of our capital allocation on maximizing total shareholder returns.” - CEO Stuart Miller.

Stock Price: Lennar is up 53% in the last 12 months.

Final Thoughts: The housing market might have problems, but Lennar investors should be pleased about this announcement.

Equity Crowdfunding King: Wefunder was Top Reg CF Platform in 2023 (Crowdfund Insider)

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