The Daily

Bitcoin traded just below the $47,000 mark on Tuesday, as investors await a decision from regulators on whether to approve the US’s first exchange-traded fund tied directly to the token. The world’s largest cryptocurrency briefly swung above $47,000 late on Monday boosted by excitement over several filings revealing what potential ETF issuers planned to charge in fees for the products, should they gain the green light. Bitcoin hovered around $46,643 at 7:00 a.m. in New York, a decline of roughly 1% in the last 24 hours. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to make a decision on some Bitcoin ETF applications by Wednesday, with spectators anticipating a slew of rulings to avoid awarding a first-mover advantage. Bitwise emerged from the pack on Monday as offering the cheapest fee for its planned ETF at 0.24% after an introductory no-fee period, while Grayscale’s planned Bitcoin Trust was the most expensive at 1.5%.

Sony Group Corp. is planning to call off the merger pact of its India unit with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., said people familiar with the matter, capping two years of drama and delay in creating a $10 billion media giant. The Japanese conglomerate is looking to cancel the deal due to a standoff over whether Zee’s Chief Executive Officer Punit Goenka, also its founder’s son, would lead the merged entity, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public. While the agreement signed in 2021 was that Goenka would lead the new company, Sony no longer wants him as CEO amid a regulatory probe, the people said. Sony plans to file the termination notice before a Jan. 20 extended deadline for closing the deal, saying some of the conditions necessary for the merger had not been met, one of the people said. Goenka has stood his ground in wanting to helm the merged entity, as agreed initially, over prolonged meetings in the past few weeks, according to another person. 

State and local governments across the US are grappling with a growing problem: Expensive drugs to treat diabetes and obesity are threatening to drain their health-care budgets. State health plans and Medicaid offices are seeing eye-popping bills for Novo Nordisk A/S’s Ozempic, its sister drug Wegovy and similar medications known as GLP-1s. They’re a breakthrough for treating two of the most complex chronic health conditions. But with list prices stretching above $1,000 a month, the costs threaten to empty government coffers. Demand for the drugs is poised to explode. Public attention has focused on the well-off looking for a quick way to lose a few extra pounds, but the reality is that type of customer represents a tiny fraction of the potential market for GLP-1s. More than one in 10 Americans have type 2 diabetes, and upward of 100 million suffer from obesity. Those rates are higher among the 19% of Americans who rely on Medicaid, the public health-insurance program that on average accounts for more than a quarter of state spending.

As speculation about the upcoming approval or denial of spot-Bitcoin ETFs reaches a fever pitch, a group of former Citigroup Inc. executives is starting to offer securities backed by the oldest cryptocurrency that they say don’t need the blessing of US regulators. The new offering, called Bitcoin depositary receipts, will be similar to American depositary receipts that represent foreign stocks. The startup, called Receipts Depositary Corporation, or RDC, said it plans to issue the first Bitcoin depositary receipts to qualified global institutional investors in transactions exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933. Known as BTC DRs, the offering will give institutions access to Bitcoin securities through US regulated market infrastructure and cleared through the Depository Trust Co., according to a release from the company.

Manhattan home prices rose for the first time in more than a year, as surging high-end sales propelled the market and lower mortgage rates set the stage for a broader recovery in 2024.

Airbus SE managed to beat its annual delivery target in 2023 as the planemaker ramped up output in December, according to a website that tracks aircraft handovers.

Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds to negative, underscoring deepening global concerns about the level of debt in the world’s second-largest economy.

Emerging-market traders were taking a pause after the biggest monthly rally in a year as they awaited data-driven clues on the health of the Chinese economy and the Federal Reserve’s policy path.

Signs are piling up — in recent data, in warnings from top retailers such as Walmart Inc. and in anecdotes from local businesses across the country — that after defying expectations all year and splurging over the summer

The European Union and South America’s biggest economies are closer than ever to concluding a major trade agreement more than two decades in the making, with leaders from both regions optimistic they can strike the elusive deal next week.