United Airlines – The airline stock popped nearly 7% a day after the company reported higher-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter. The carrier hit its full-year adjusted earnings target of between $10 and $12 a share in 2023 and said bookings so far in 2024 have been solid. United forecast a first-quarter loss due to the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes this month, however.
TKO Group – Shares of TKO Group Holdings rallied 13% after announcing a deal to air its WWE flagship program known as “Raw” on Netflix next year. The move marks Netflix’s first major jump into live sports.
3M – 3M sank more than 12% after issuing disappointing guidance. The company said it expects adjusted earnings per share to range between $9.35 and $9.75 for the year, falling short of the $9.81 per share expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
Sunnova Energy, Enphase Energy – Sunnova Energy and Enphase Energy gained more than 3% and 2%, respectively, after Truist upgraded the solar stocks to buy ratings, saying that both stocks could benefit from rate cuts this year from the Federal Reserve.
Coinbase – Coinbase slumped 3% after JPMorgan downgraded the crypto exchange to underweight from equal weight, saying that the company could face some obstacles as enthusiasm for spot bitcoin ETFs fades.
General Electric – The industrial stock slipped less than 1% in midday trading. General Electric surpassed fourth-quarter estimates on the top and bottom lines, but the company shared weaker guidance than anticipated for the first quarter. GE said it expected EPS to range between 60 and 65 cents, versus an LSEG estimate of 72 cents.
Zuora – The enterprise software company added nearly 4% after Goldman Sachs upgraded shares to buy, citing a stabilization in fundaments and “improving profitability profile.” The firm sees 30% upside for Zuora shares.
Lockheed Martin – Lockheed Martin fell more than 3% after the defense contractor shared weaker-than-expected earnings-per-share guidance for the full year. The company said it expects earnings to range between $25.65 and $26.35 a share, versus a FactSet estimate of $26.61 per share.
D.R. Horton – The homebuilder dropped more than 9% after posting mixed quarterly results. Revenue topped expectations, but earnings fell 6 cents short of analysts’ expectations, per LSEG.
Halliburton – Halliburton advanced close to 2%. The oil company posted mixed quarterly results but boosted its dividend to 17 cents a share, up from a cent per share.
Logitech – Shares sank nearly 10% after Logitech said that sales declined in its fiscal third quarter. The manufacturer of mice and keyboards also raised its revenue guidance for the full year, but it came within the range anticipated by analysts, per FactSet.
Rumble – Rumble shares skyrocketed close to 30%. This latest move builds on a 36% gain from Monday after the video platform and cloud services company announced a partnership with Barstool Sports.
Verizon – Shares jumped 5.5% after the telecommunication giant exceeded Wall Street expectations for its fourth quarter. Verizon posted $1.08 in adjusted earnings per share on $35.13 billion in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG forecasted $1.07 per share in earnings and $34.64 billion of revenue.
RTX – Shares jumped more than 5% after RTX exceeded expectations in its fourth-quarter results. RTX reported adjusted earnings of $1.29 per share, topping the FactSet consensus estimate of $1.24 per share. Revenue of $19.93 billion came in better than the $19.74 billion anticipated by analysts polled by FactSet.
Zions Bancorporation – The regional bank stock fell 1%. Zions Bancorporation said on Monday that during the fourth quarter, net interest income fell 19% to $583 million, while loans rose 4%.
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.
