The US stock market rose for the second consecutive day, continuing its recovery after a sharp decline of 10% last week. Buffett’s increased investment in Japanese trading companies has also led investors to wonder if the cash-rich Berkshire Hathaway is looking to pick up bargains. Yesterday, cryptocurrency saw a slight rebound, with BNB Chain (BSC) attempting to seize market share from Solana in the meme space, and its trading volume surpassed Solana’s yesterday. BNB has also shown relatively strong performance, rising nearly 5% in the last 24 hours.
Mixed Retail Sales Data, Market Focused on Federal Reserve Decisions
Although the latest economic data did not change traders’ bets on the Federal Reserve’s outlook, the mixed retail sales data showed that US retail sales in February grew by 0.2% compared to the previous month, better than the downwardly revised decline of 1.2% from the prior month. While this was below market expectations, investors believe consumer spending has not collapsed. As discussions regarding tariffs gradually ease, the stock market continues to recover from technically oversold levels.
This week is a super central bank week, starting with the Bank of Japan on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on Thursday, and the market’s focus is undoubtedly on the two-day meeting of the US Federal Reserve starting on Tuesday. There is widespread expectation that the Federal Reserve will maintain interest rates at this meeting, but investors will look for signs of changes in the Fed’s economic outlook due to Trump policies from the economic forecast data released during the meeting and Powell’s remarks at the post-meeting press conference.
Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary who previously worked as a hedge fund manager on Wall Street, stated that he is not concerned about the recent stock market decline as the US seeks to reshape its economic policies.
(No guarantee against recession! US Treasury Secretary Bessent: Continuous rise is unhealthy, the government is resetting economic direction)
Buffett Increases Stake in Japanese Trading Companies, Is Cash-Rich Berkshire Looking to Pick Up Bargains?
As indicated by Warren Buffett three weeks ago in his annual letter to shareholders, documents submitted to the Japanese Ministry of Finance on Monday show that Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stakes in Mitsubishi Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Itochu Corporation, and Sumitomo Corporation.
Buffett stated that the trading companies have agreed to “moderately” relax the previous cap on its 10% stake, leaving room for further purchases. His acquisitions in 2020 and 2023 have fueled a broad rise in the Japanese stock market.
(Berkshire’s Long-Term Holdings and Increased Stakes in Japanese Trading Companies, Is There an Opportunity for Investors to Profit from Both Stock and Currency with the Yen’s Appreciation?)
The Nikkei 225 index has fallen more than 6% this year, while the TOPIX index has dropped over 1%. Meanwhile, in the US, the S&P 500 index has declined about 4.5%. The recent declines have led many investors to wonder if the cash-rich Buffett will make a long-awaited return to buying stocks.
BNB and TRX Show Strong Performance
Yesterday, cryptocurrency experienced a slight rebound. The strategy of BNB Chain (BSC) trying to capture the meme market from Solana seems to be working, with trading volume surpassing Solana’s yesterday. BNB has also shown relatively strong performance, rising nearly 5% in the last 24 hours and nearly 18% over the past week.
(BNB Chain Launches AI Meme Battlefield! Shell Launchpad Goes Live, BSC Trading Volume Surpasses Solana)
The TRON DAO stated that TRON achieved an annual revenue of over $2 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 116%. Moreover, TRON has completely burned 100% of TRX transaction fees, making it one of the few deflationary blockchains. TRX rose 4% in 24 hours.
Risk Warning
Investing in cryptocurrency carries a high level of risk, and its prices can be extremely volatile, leading to a potential loss of your entire principal. Please assess the risks carefully.