Abbott Laboratories — The medical device company jumped 7.8% following its earnings report. Abbott reported $1.03 earnings per share on revenue of $9.75 billion for the first quarter. Both beat Wall Street expectations, with analysts polled by FactSet anticipating 99 cents in earnings per share on $9.67 billion in revenue. The company reaffirmed its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance of between $4.30 and $4.50, a range that encompasses the consensus estimate of $4.39.
Netflix — Shares of the streaming giant fell about 4% after the company posted a small revenue miss. Netflix posted a quarterly revenue of $8.16 billion, slightly below the $8.18 billion expectation per Refinitiv. Its earnings per share did beat estimates. Netflix also said it delayed the broad rollout of its password-sharing crackdown.
Western Alliance, Zions Bancorporation — Shares of Western Alliance jumped nearly 21% on Wednesday after the regional bank said its deposits have been rebounding in April after declining 11% in the first quarter. Wedbush upgraded the beaten-down stock to outperform after Western Alliance’s quarterly report, despite the bank’s net income declining by more than 50% from the previous quarter. Other regional bank stocks gained during Wednesday’s trading session. Zion rose 4.3% ahead of its earnings report after the bell. Shares of Regions Financial and Comerica added 1.5% and 2.9%, respectively.
United Airlines — The airline’s shares rose 6% Wednesday. Although the airline announced a net loss for the first quarter, CEO Scott Kirby said the company expects a profit in the second quarter. United posted a loss of 63 cents per share, which is 10 cents smaller than the 73-cent estimated loss from analysts polled by Refinitiv. The company reported $11.43 billion in revenue, slightly above the $11.42 billion estimated.
Intuitive Surgical — Intuitive Surgical shares surged 11.8% after the company’s quarterly earnings and revenue came above Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted adjusted per-share earnings of $1.23, topping against a consensus estimate of $1.20 per share, according to FactSet. Revenue came in at $1.70 billion, compared to estimates of $1.59 billion.
Tesla — The electric vehicle maker pulled back 1 % ahead of its scheduled quarterly earnings after Wednesday’s closing bell. Tesla investors are closing watching profit margins after a report on Tuesday of yet another price cut to U.S. versions of the Model 3 and Model Y. So far this year, Tesla has slashed prices to both models six times. Analysts expect Tesla to report a 24.2% year-on-year increase in first-quarter revenue to $23.29 billion, but their average profit estimate has fallen by about 2.4% in the last three months, according to Refinitiv data.
Bowlero — Shares of the bowling alley and entertainment company gained nearly 5% after Jefferies initiated Bowlero with a buy and says it sees “strong growth and robust free-cash flow opportunity.”
Rivian Automotive — The stock dropped nearly 3.5% following a downgrade sector perform from outperform by RBC Capital Markets. The Wall Street firm slashed Rivian’s price target to $14 from $28 per share, and said it sees limited catalysts to accelerate profitability in the near term.
CDW — Shares of the IT company plunged 13.7% after it reported a weaker-than-expected preliminary quarterly earnings report and issued guidance for its full-year earnings to fall “modestly below” 2022 levels. CDW issued quarterly revenue guidance of $5.1 billion, which came out below the $5.58 billion consensus estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet. The company said it was significantly impacted by more cautious buying amid economic uncertainty.
Peloton Interactive — Peloton’s shares dropped 1.8% during Wednesday’s trading session after KeyBanc initiated the company as sector weight, saying that there’s too much uncertainty with the exercise company. The firm cited “macro turbulence, financial distress, and unproven/margin dilutive initiatives” as pressures on Peloton’s subscription growth rate and brand uniqueness.
Travelers — Shares of the insurance company jumped 6.4% after beating Wall Street’s expectations on both the top and bottom lines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average component reported adjusted earnings of $4.11 a share on $9.40 billion in net premiums.
ASML Holding — The chipmaker stock shed about 3% after the company reported that its net bookings for the first quarter were down 46% year-over-year on “mixed signals” from customers as they work through inventory. Shares fell despite ASML reporting an earnings beat for the quarter.
Citizens Financial Group — Shares were down 3.1% after the company posted first-quarter earnings that disappointed investors. Citizens Financial reported earnings per share of $1, falling short of analysts’ expectations of $1.13, according to Refinitiv data. The company’s revenue of $2.13 billion also came below analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. Citizens Financial reported a 4.7% decline in deposits to $172.2 billion.
Intel — The semiconductor stock remained in the red on Wednesday, shedding 1.6% during midday trading, after it announced it would be discontinuing its bitcoin mining chip series, Blockscale, after just a year of production.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
