The fourth Bitcoin halving was in mid-April amid expectations of a rally for the cryptocurrency. Halving is a scheduled reduction in the amount of new coins entering the market and is intended to protect the cryptocurrency's value by ensuring its circulation is capped at 21 million. Halving occurs every four years for Bitcoin, and this time it reduced the supply of new coins awarded to miners by half (to 3.125 tokens). Some reasoned the lower supply would lead to a run up in Bitcoin's price (as that was the case after each of the previous halvings). So far, though, this halving has been different. Since the April 19 halving date, the price of Bitcoin has fallen about 2%. Why? The SEC's approval of the first U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs likely played a role. The spot Bitcoin ETFs have been welcomed by investors who have collectively poured nearly $60 billion into them since January. The related increase in demand drove the price of Bitcoin up over 50% by mid-March, only to drop by about 15% since then despite the halving. The unexpected results remind us that investing in crypto comes with risk and the underlying market doesn't always react as planned. We expect volatility in cryptocurrencies to continue in the near-term as evolving regulations meant to stabilize the market could undermine the benefits of decentralization. Only time will tell what's in store for this relatively new asset class. But one thing is for sure. Bitcoin halving is no longer a sure bet for market gains.

IBM is a leading U.S.-based provider of enterprise IT hardware, software and services. In November 2021, IBM spun off the managed infrastructure assets of its former Global Technology Services business into Kyndryl (NYSE: KD). To align with its platform-centric approach, IBM has revised its segment reporting into four major categories: Consulting, Software, Infrastructure, and Global Financing.

U.S. stocks sold off on Thursday morning following economic data that led investors to believe that the first interest rate cut will likely be in September. However, stocks recovered some of their losses by market close, while bond yields rose. On the housing front, pending home sales grew 3.4% in March according to the National Association of Realtors, ahead of estimates for sales to remain flat sequentially. The Dow was down 1.0%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq lost 0.6%. Crude oil is trading above $83 per barrel and gold is up $1 to $2343 per ounce.

IBM looks to be a part of every aspect of an enterprise’s IT needs. The company primarily sells software, IT services, consulting, and hardware. IBM operates in 175 countries and employs approximately 350,000 people. The company has a robust roster of 80,000 business partners to service 5,200 clients—which includes 95% of all Fortune 500. While IBM is a B2B company, IBM’s outward impact is substantial. For example, IBM manages 90% of all credit card transactions globally and is responsible for 50% of all wireless connections in the world.