Thursday, June 30, 2022

How The Price Is Right Predicted This Bear Market - Forbes

Elden Ring has dropped to its lowest ever price with a 17% discount - Gamesradar

If you've not taken the plunge into Elden Ring yet, now's your chance - the From Software game has been hit with a heavy discount that takes it to a record low price. You can pick up an Elden Ring deal on Xbox for just $45.69 at Amazon (opens in new tab) (was $59.95) and on PS5 for $49.94 (opens in new tab). Meanwhile, the PS4 version has also been discounted with a drop to $47.80 at Amazon (opens in new tab).

Considering how massive Elden Ring has been over the last few months (it's comfortably one of the biggest games of 2022), seeing it tumble to its lowest ever price is the perfect excuse for newcomers to dive in. Those who'd been waiting for it to get reduced, like me, are also well in. It's never been this cheap before.

With any luck, this sort of discount will simply be the start; we're staring down the barrel of Prime Day gaming deals in July, so more price cuts should be on the way. We'll keep you posted!

More gaming deals

If that doesn't cut it, be sure to take a look at the offers rounded up by our bargain-hunting software below.


For more offers, be sure to keep an eye on the upcoming Prime Day video game deals. You can also find discounts on tech with the Prime Day laptop deals and Prime Day TV deals.

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UK house price growth slows slightly in June - Nationwide - Reuters.com

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - British house prices rose at a slower pace in June than in May as higher inflation squeezed household budgets, but the average price of a home still hit a new record, monthly figures from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Thursday.

House prices in June were 0.3% higher than in May, when they rose 0.9%. Compared with June 2021, prices were 10.7% higher, a slowdown from annual growth of 11.2% in May. Both monthly and annual increases were slightly less than the median expectation in a Reuters poll of economists.

"There are tentative signs of a slowdown," Nationwide's chief economist, Robert Gardner, said.

"Nevertheless, the housing market has retained a surprising amount of momentum given the mounting pressure on household budgets from high inflation," he added.

Consumer price inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, and the BoE has warned the economy is likely to come close to recession later this year.

Financial markets also expect the central bank to keep raising interest rates over the coming months, and see them reaching 2.75% by December, up sharply from 1.25% now and just 0.1% at the start of December 2021.

The average price of a home rose to a record 271,613 pounds ($330,064), Nationwide said, with the biggest increase in southwest England, where prices rose 14.7% on the year. London saw the smallest rise, with annual price growth slowing to 6.0% from 7.4% in the previous quarter.

Overall, house prices have risen by more than 20% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nationwide's figures showed.

($1 = 0.8229 pounds)

Reporting by David Milliken, Editing by Paul Sandle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Home Price Increases Cooled Slightly in April - CNET

Home price increases slowed down for the first time in months, a signal that the US housing market may finally be starting to cool down

Home prices rose 20.4% in April compared with the same time last year, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, the leading measure of US home prices. That's down from 20.6% in March -- the first time in four months that there has been even a slight decrease in home price growth.

The 20-City Composite saw a 21.2% year over year increase, up from 21.1% in March, and all 20 cities in the index saw double-digit price increases for the year ending in April. Still, compared with the last five months, only nine cities saw prices rise at faster rate than they did in the previous month. 

"April 2022 showed initial signs of a deceleration in the growth rate of US home prices," said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI. "We continue to observe very broad strength in the housing market, as all 20 cities notched double-digit price increases for the 12 months ended in April."

Sunbelt cities like Tampa, Miami and Phoenix had the highest increases, with Tampa reporting the highest price growth at 35.8% year over year. April's growth rate was still strong overall, despite the slight decrease in price increases, indicating competition is still tight among home buyers even with surging mortgage rates and high prices. 

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates three times this year in an attempt to slow inflation and sky-rocketing home prices, but buyers will still have to wait to see any major price declines, as a more significant slowing down of the housing market is expected to become more apparent only later on this year

"Mortgage financing has become more expensive as the Federal Reserve ratchets up interest rates, a process that had only just begun when April data were gathered," Lazzara said. "A more challenging macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer."

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Wednesday, June 29, 2022

An iPhone 14 Pro Max price leak pegs the flagship specs at a higher tag - PhoneArena

Apple could be raising the price of its flagship iPhone 14 Pro Max to $1199 this year, claims a new leak, reiterating previous rumors that it will try to keep the price difference between the Pro and regular models, as well as recoup the increased costs for their new design and hardware.
Since Apple is said to be equipping the 14 Pro Max with а dual punch hole display to house an improved front camera and the Face ID paraphernalia, as well as with a new image sensor and A16 processor, all those novelties will cost you, says The Gallox
His predictions are hit or miss and sometimes just common sense aggregations, but nevertheless the higher iPhone 14 Pro Max price and top-shelf specs have been bandied about before by other leakers as well:

The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max price to specs ratio


  • Processor: A16 Bionic
  • Screens: 6.1 | 6.7 inch 120Hz OLED Display
  • Camera kit: 48/12/12 cameras
  • Memory: 128/256/512/1TB storage & 8GB RAM
  • Batteries: 3,200 | 4,323 mAh battery
  • Features: Always-On Display, Face ID, iOS 16
  • Prices: $1099 | $1199
If Apple doesn't bump the Pro model prices, there would only be a mere $100 price difference between the iPhone 14 Max/Plus, and the iPhone 14 Pro, given the all-new design and extra upgrades in the Pro models, and if Apple wants to keep the $200 difference between the regular and Pro models, it will have to bump everything by a Benjamin.
The Pro models will be the ones with the under-display Face ID dot projector and the elliptical punch hole that will house the selfie camera and the rest of the Face ID components, besides all of their other usual upgrades in terms of camera set, display features, and processing power. Here's the expected iPhone 14 series price list opposed to the iPhone 13 models' pricing:


Thus, the average price of the iPhone 14 series will be significantly increased compared to the iPhone 13 line, as it includes a $699 iPhone 13 mini model. If you want to buy all of the 2021 iPhone models, you'd need $3596, but if Apple's 2022 iPhone 14 price hike rumors hold water, you'd need $400 more to gather them all under one roof.

Granted, there will be a unique Max model this time around that will offer a bigger display for much less money than the 14 Pro Max, but it will also cost more than the iPhone 13 at launch, while the iPhone 14 doesn't take the iPhone 13 mini price, but stays at the $799 tag of its predecessor, effectively raising all 2022 iPhone pricing across the board.

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Solar Material Price Jumps Most in 8 Months on Supply Woes - Bloomberg

Polysilicon prices jumped by the most in eight months with maintenance scheduled at key facilities, threatening to raise the cost of solar panels as clean energy demand soars.

The average cost of the most expensive grade of polysilicon rose 4.8% to 286.3 yuan ($42.7) a kilogram on Wednesday, according to a statement from the China Silicon Industry Association. It’s the highest price for the material since late 2011. 

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Dollar Tree Jettisons Legal Chief, Others Amid $1.25 Price Shift - Bloomberg Law

Discount variety store chain Dollar Tree, Inc. took a broom to its executive suite, sweeping out chief legal officer William Old and other top executives, the company announced Tuesday.

Old and Thomas O’Boyle, Dollar Tree’s chief operating officer, are among those headed for the exit.

“Searches for successors are underway, and the company is in advanced discussions with several candidates for certain positions,” Dollar Tree said in the announcement.

The value chain, which has been selling items from toys to food and household essentials for $1 each, was criticized last year when it announced plans to raise its traditional price by May 2022.

Diehard Dollar Tree shoppers reacted furiously over the store’s “Everything’s $1” signs being replaced with $1.25 signs.

Departing from its brand identity was a sharp break for Dollar Tree, which stuck to the $1 across-the-board pricing for more than three decades. CEO Michael Witnyski said in August that the company was committed to $1, telling analysts that “the dollar price point is going to be more important than ever.”

The Chesapeake, Va.-headquartered company’s traditional pricing was buffeted by increases in labor, shipping, fuel and merchandise costs. Dollar Tree began testing the sale of items at higher price points, and in September it announced it would move to $1.25 items at its stores.

In May, the chain announced its first quarter 2022 results, reporting expanded sales and a 19.2% increase in gross profit to $2.34 billion. Witnyski noted that the company was taking “the necessary actions now to position ourselves for accelerated growth,” and expected to “continue generate a significant amount of cash flow.”

The company said it expects to report quarterly earnings on Aug. 25, 2022 for its 16,162 stores in 28 states and five Canadian provinces. The stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada.

In addition to the discontent over pricing, the company has faced several controversies. The Arkansas state attorney general sued Family Dollar in April, claiming the chain knew of a major and long-running rodent infestation at a West Memphis distribution center but continued to sell potentially contaminated products that had been stored there.

In addition to Old and O’Boyle, also departing the company are chief strategy officer David Jacobs, chief information officer Andy Paisley, and chief financial officer Kevin Wampler, who will remain with the company as an advisor until April 2023, the announcement noted. Old and three others, whose last day was June 27, are receiving severance.

Witnyski noted in the announcement that he thought leadership changes “will bring new perspectives and experiences that will help accelerate our continued growth.”

The move received the backing of the company board’s executive chairman Richard Dreiling.

“Our board is fully aligned with Mike that now is the right time to bring in new leadership to ensure the company remains on a strong trajectory,” Dreiling said in the announcement.

Brian Baxter contributed to this report.

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Price Transparency Can End Crushing Medical Debt Burden – InsideSources - InsideSources

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new analysis recently concluding that a staggering 100 million Americans have medical debt, 41 percent of the nation’s adult population. This crushing debt burden exceeds prior estimates because it includes medical liabilities held through informal loans and credit cards that don’t appear in other analyses. 

This finding shocks the conscience no matter what your political position. It is perhaps the best evidence of America’s predatory healthcare system and the need for immediate reform to help ordinary families avoid financial ruin. This debt load is especially heavy during historical inflation when real wages and living standards are declining.

Some policymakers point to the widespread financial devastation from healthcare overcharging to call for socializing healthcare in a Medicare for All system. Yet, there is a far easier solution to protect patients from medical debt while expanding access, choices and competition: healthcare price transparency.

Actual, upfront prices empower healthcare consumers, including patients, employers and unions, to avoid price gouging for the more than 90 percent of healthcare spending that’s not for emergencies. Accurate prices allow patients to choose quality, less expensive hospitals and health insurers, have recourse when overcharged, and enjoy peace of mind that their care won’t result in personal bankruptcy.

Under the opaque healthcare status quo, hospitals and health insurers blind patients to prices, then blindside them with enormous bills that they often never would have agreed to in the mail weeks and months after the care. As a result of this dynamic, care and coverage costs have skyrocketed, growing at more than twice the rate of inflation. Hospitals now charge an average of seven times their cost of care.

Average annual employer-sponsored family health insurance premiums are $22,221 per year, not including deductibles. This healthcare overcharging suppresses employee wages. 

Imagine the outrage if any other business, from your neighborhood dry cleaner to your auto mechanic, engaged in such egregious billing practices. Vanderbilt University healthcare economist Larry Van Horn notes, “Not even in the darkest recesses of the market such as payday loans do we require consumers to pay prices not discernable in advance.” 

There’s a reason the only industry that causes routine financial devastation is also the only one with hidden prices.

When prices are known, overcharging, upcoding, billing fraud and the debt they cause will end. Hospitals and health insurers that engage in such practices will be bypassed in favor of those that offer quality care at fair market prices. Consumers can compare their employer plans to alternatives and reject outrageous negotiated rates. The competition will reverse runaway costs and make prices affordable like it does in nearly every other economic sector.

This pro-consumer, price-transparent healthcare revolution has already begun. On January 1, 2021, a federal hospital price transparency rule took effect, requiring hospitals to post their discounted cash prices and all negotiated rates by insurance plan. On July 1, a health insurance price transparency rule takes effect requiring insurers to post their historical claims data and secretly negotiated rates so consumers can access actual, upfront prices wherever they get care.

Unfortunately, the hospital rule has been marred by widespread noncompliance. According to a recent study by PatientRightsAdvocate.org, only 14.3 percent of hospitals nationwide follow it. Hospitals are willfully breaking the law to maintain profiteering by keeping consumers in the dark. Fortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services has finally begun issuing fines on non-compliant hospitals one and a half years after the rule took effect. Robust enforcement of this rule and the insurance order can make this pro-consumer, price transparency vision a reality. 

When all healthcare and coverage prices are known, patients and employers won’t tolerate paying 10 times more for the same care as the person in the bed next to them. An active, competitive healthcare marketplace will emerge based on choices and financial certainty. Patients can pro-actively avoid most cases of medical debt and take control of their health and wealth, ending this national embarrassment.

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Monday, June 27, 2022

The G7 ponders capping oil prices to deny Russia revenues. How would it work? - The New York Times

Leaders of the Group of 7 nations meeting in Germany, seeking a new way to throttle Russia’s finances while limiting the harm to Western economies, are discussing imposing a ceiling on the price paid for Russian oil. Details of the plan are still being discussed, but the idea is to limit how much Russia can earn from the oil it sells while still keeping markets well supplied.

A price cap is being considered because, despite sanctions imposed by the West after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is still earning substantial revenue from oil.

While Russian output has declined around 8 percent since the war began, prices have risen, generating a steady of supply of cash to support the government. Crimping that revenue stream is a goal at the G7 conference,.

The United States and other countries are looking for ways to restrict Russia’s oil earnings while avoiding taking crude off the market, which would result in raising prices. Energy prices are contributing to sharp increases in inflation, and the Biden administration is concerned that recent European plans to ban around 90 percent of Russian oil exports by the end of the year may lead to higher gasoline prices.

The White House appears to be trying to find a magic bullet that would punish Russia without raising oil prices and putting more pressure on consumers in the United States and elsewhere.

It remains unclear how caps would work, and there is more speculation than specifics. One approach that might be applied would be to put pressure on Western banking, insurance and shipping companies involved in the transport of Russian oil to drive down its price.

The countries likely to support a price cap include the United States, Canada and others that have already banned imports of Russian oil. The European Union, which is phasing out Russian crude, also may be willing to sign on.

But that leaves many other countries that are much more difficult to influence.

“If they continue to just focus on the E.U. and its allies, then the rest of the world will find a way to take Russian oil,” said James Davis, a director at FGE, a consulting firm.

A price cap might run into resistance from some of Russia’s major customers. Since the war in Ukraine began in February, India has emerged as a key buyer for Russian crude. Indian refiners’ purchases have soared to about one million barrels a day recently, compared with just 100,000 barrels a day on average during 2021.

China and Turkey are also key customers, taking advantage of discounts on Russian crude. None of these countries has agreed to go along with Western sanctions on Russian oil, and there is no guarantee that they would support new measures like those under discussion. China, for instance, may be happy to buy oil at low prices but would prefer to negotiate its own terms rather than apply a Western price cap, analysts say.

Even in Europe there may be obstacles. The 27 European Union members remain collectively Russia’s largest customer, and despite sanctions they averaged the same levels of imports in May as during 2021. The negotiations that led its agreement to cut Russian imports were tricky, with Hungary insisting on an exemption for landlocked countries. Brussels would reopen that deal warily.

Russia is being forced to find new markets for its oil, but it is not a spent force in either energy or geopolitics. It remains a key oil and natural gas exporter in a very tight market and has other geopolitical leverage, like its role as a major arms supplier to India. There are many ways Russia could use this clout to try to frustrate a price cap, including further tightening or stopping natural gas supplies to Germany and other European Union countries or leaning on India to keep buying crude.

While the details of the plan are still murky, analysts are skeptical that it would have much effect on price, which is more likely to be determined by global supply and demand. Brent crude, for instance, was up about 1.5 percent on Monday to about $115 a barrel as the G7 discussions proceeded.

Analysts say there are several reasons for current high prices. They include worries about a lack of output capacity and rock-bottom storage tank levels. Concerns about supplies from Russia also play a role.

“A cap on Russian crude prices is not going to change that materially to bring prices down,” Mr. Davis said.

Depending on where the price is set, refiners in countries like India and China could well gain an advantage on competitors in Europe and elsewhere, because access to cheaper crude might mean that the diesel and other products these refiners produce would be cheaper as well. Low prices might also stimulate additional purchases of Russian oil, and countries that have banned Russian crude could wind up paying more than those participating in the price-cap scheme.

It seems likely. As the war in Ukraine drags on, analysts say, the West seems to be moving toward an increasingly strict sanctions regime on Russia, potentially analogous to the one that has been imposed on Iran, another major oil producer. There is little doubt that the United States is becoming increasingly influential in determining what countries can produce oil and how much. Still, there is skepticism about how effective the moves under discussion will be.

“If the U.S. is really determined, it may be able to push through a watered-down version” of a price cap scheme, said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, a market research firm. “But that is unlikely to have much real impact on flows.”

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Qantas To Make Further Domestic Capacity Cuts Amid Fuel Price Surge - Simple Flying

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Qantas To Make Further Domestic Capacity Cuts Amid Fuel Price Surge  Simple Flying

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Sunday, June 26, 2022

These states saw the biggest gas price drops - WANE

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  1. These states saw the biggest gas price drops  WANE
  2. Average US gasoline price drops 4 cents to $5.05 per gallon  Raleigh News & Observer
  3. Tampa gas prices falling twice as fast as national average, data shows  WFLA
  4. Gas Prices Finally Dipped Below $5. But Don't Expect Them to Stay There  CNET
  5. View Full Coverage on Google News


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EXCLUSIVE Copper giant Codelco sees 'very firm' copper price ahead despite recent drop - chairman - Reuters

Maximo Pacheco, Chile's then-Energy Minister, speaks at the Chilean congress in Valparaiso, Chile May 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

SANTIAGO, June 26 (Reuters) - Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco, the world's top producer of the red metal, sees a firm copper price ahead despite a recent sharp fall, chairman of the board Máximo Pacheco told Reuters in an interview in Santiago.

The comments come as copper prices posted their biggest weekly fall in a year as investors worried that efforts by central banks to stem inflation will stifle global economic growth and reduce demand for metals. read more

"We may be in temporary short-term turbulence, but what is important here are the fundamentals, the supply-demand balance looks very favorable to those of us who have copper reserves," Pacheco said.

"In a world where copper is the conductor par excellence and where there aren't many new deposits either, the price of copper looks very firm because the future looks very electric."

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was 0.5% lower at $8,367 a tonne on Friday after touching $8,122.50, down 25% from a peak in March and the lowest level since February 2021. Other industrial metals also tumbled.

Pacheco, a former energy minister appointed earlier this year, said the annual production goal would be maintained at 1.7 million tonnes while he was in charge, including for this year. He said costs needed to be kept in check

"In this industry we compete with costs and that is why we need to be competitive," he said.

Chile's government said this week it would allow Codelco, which gives all its profits to the state, to retain 30% of its profits from last year to help finance an ambitious $40 billion investment plan until the end of the decade.

"We have this portfolio of very large projects and the Chilean state decided to change the dividend policy precisely to be able to finance those strategic projects not only with depreciation and debt but also with reinvestment," he said.

The executive said the injection of resources would allow the firm's debt to remain "relatively stable," currently at some $18 billion, though it would still look for opportunities to go to debt markets to improve its maturity curve.

Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Friday, June 24, 2022

Stanley Cup Game 5 average ticket price breaks $1,000 - ESPN

Tickets for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final in Denver are reselling for an average of $1,375, according to Vivid Seats.

The Colorado Avalanche have a 3-1 series lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning and can win the Stanley Cup on home ice on Friday night.

The average price is the highest for any Avalanche playoff home game this postseason and the first average price to break $1,000. The average price for Game 1 at Vivid Seats was $859, while Game 2 averaged $943.

The $1,375 average price is the highest for any event held at Ball Arena since 2010, with the other two Stanley Cup Final home games ranking second and third. After that, it's a July 2016 Adele concert, for which tickets averaged $468 on the resale market.

The average price for Game 5 tickets in Denver eclipses the prices for some recent Stanley Cup Final home team clinching games, such as the Lightning's 2021 Game 5 win over the Montreal Canadiens ($1,022); the Boston Bruins' 2019 Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Blues ($1,316); the Chicago Blackhawks' 2015 win over the Lightning ($1,232); and the Los Angeles Kings' 2014 Game 5 win over the New York Rangers ($895).

StubHub, meanwhile, reports that Friday night's game has an average price of $1,629 for tickets sold. The cheapest ticket available for the game is $1,410. Ticket sales have increased 60% in the past 24 hours, after the Avalanche won Game 4 in overtime in Tampa.

Additional research by ESPN Sports & Information.

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Thursday, June 23, 2022

Copper price at 16-month low as slowdown fears hit industrial metals - Financial Times

Copper prices fell to a 16-month low on Thursday in the latest sign of recession fears gripping the wider industrial metals market.

Often seen as a gauge of economic activity because of its use in everything from household appliances to electric vehicles, copper was 4.5 per cent lower at $8,387 a tonne in late trading. It is now down 14 per cent for the year.

Having climbed sharply after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, copper has fallen this month over concerns that demand will be crimped by central banks rapidly raising interest rates to curb inflation and by China’s tough Covid-19 lockdown policies.

“The [US Federal Reserve] is tightening aggressively. Holding copper’s getting expensive. The commodity world’s flagship is under fire,” said Tom Price, an analyst at Liberum, referring to copper.

Speaking to a Senate banking committee on Wednesday, Fed chair Jay Powell conceded that plans to raise borrowing costs this year could tip the world’s largest economy into recession.

That message also weighed on other metal prices. Aluminium fell 2.67 per cent, nickel lost 1.7 per cent and tin slid 9 per cent on Thursday.

“Metals have given up their year of gains, with aluminium and copper touching year lows this week, with zinc and nickel not too far behind, as Chinese demand and higher-than-expected Russian supply is leading to more stocks deposited on to European exchanges,” said Ehsan Khoman, head of emerging markets research at MUFG.

Copper started the year at around $9,800 a tonne and went on to trade above $10,400 a tonne in early March over worries that the war in Ukraine would hit supply.

Those concerns were not ultimately borne out, but were instead replaced by worries over the health of the global economy. Data released on Thursday added to signs of a slowdown, with a business activity survey indicating that Germany — Europe’s biggest economy — suffered a sharp loss of momentum at the end of the second quarter.

Liberum’s Price said that many generalist investors had bought copper on the grounds that its value was underpinned by a lack of new supply projects in the pipeline and rising demand from the car industry as big manufacturers ramp up production of electric vehicles.

“This vast, generalist inflow has rendered copper’s price insensitive to its own fundamentals since 2020. But things are changing,” said Price.

The sharp drop in metal prices has also spilled over into the mining sector, with shares in some of the world’s biggest producers down sharply this month. London-listed Rio Tinto has dropped almost 13 per cent and Anglo American is down more than 18 per cent.

In a report published on Thursday, analysts at Morgan Stanley said the macroeconomic backdrop for the sector had “deteriorated” as “central banks’ fight with inflation escalates and China’s zero-Covid policy” continued to damp demand for metals.

“After two years of excess profits underpinned by supply shocks and buoyant demand, we argue that the industry’s returns are bound to normalise.”

Colin Hamilton, analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said the price of aluminium, a lightweight metal used in making drinks cans and aeroplanes, might find support from production cuts.

Century Aluminum, a big US producer, said on Wednesday that it would mothball a 200,000-tonne-per-year smelter in Kentucky for the next nine to 12 months, citing soaring power prices.

“We see potential for further primary aluminium production cuts, most notably in Europe, over the coming months, which should start to provide some support to prices,” said Hamilton.

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National Gas Price Average dips below $5 per Gallon - Clarksville Online

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National Gas Price Average dips below $5 per Gallon  Clarksville Online

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What's The Highest Price You'd Pay For That 12-Pack? Retailers Are Finding Out In Real Time - Forbes

More retailers are testing how customers respond to price increases in real time—with the results often giving them the green light to go higher.


Say a soda manufacturer is facing a steep rise in costs. Say the company decides to raise the price of a 12-pack to recoup those costs. Rather than doing a Hail Mary and hoping the price increase doesn’t dent sales, the retailer selling that soda tests a few different price points. In a couple of stores, the price goes up by ten cents. Elsewhere it goes up by a quarter. Maybe it lowers the price in a few stores, too.

Then it waits to see what happens. If demand remains little changed at the highest price point, it may decide to roll out that new price across thousands of stores.

Welcome to the world of real-time price testing. More retailers are experimenting with price fluctuations to determine how high they can go before turning off customers and losing sales — and where they need to keep prices low.

“Everything is a test all the time,” said David Moran, cofounder and chairman of Eversight Labs, which provides the technology to test pricing and promotions in real-time to consumer product companies and retailers like Coca-Cola, Hershey, Neutrogena, Walgreens and JCPenney.

While companies have always been able to run small tests before rolling out price changes, advancements in technology now allow them to run tests in a handful of locations and then optimize prices for each item in their product portfolio across thousands of stores.

That type of real-time data comes in handy at a time when consumer behavior has become so difficult to predict, amid a global pandemic and inflation at a 40-year high. Typically, companies look at how customers have responded to price increases in the past and try to infer how they’ll respond in the future. They want to be careful not to raise prices so sharply that sales nose-dive. However, data from years past isn’t terribly helpful.

“Historical data is irrelevant right now,” said Farla Efros, managing director of HRC Retail Advisory at Accenture.

According to historical data, consumers should have reacted more negatively to price increases. However, the consumer products companies that make snacks, drinks, cleaning supplies and other household staples have been saying that consumers have largely been more accepting of price increases than they expected. Last month, Procter & Gamble said elasticities—which measure how much demand for a product falls when prices go up—were still 20% to 30% better than historical data suggested.

“Despite all the jawboning that consumer demand is softening or consumers are going to snap back, we’re not seeing that in the data,” said Moran. “It’s a bit of a puzzler.”

Moran has an eagle eye’s point of view. He helps set prices and promotions for some of the largest companies in the world, which do over $80 billion in revenue in total. When he began noticing last summer that prices were going up and consumers didn’t seem to mind, he wondered if there was something wrong with the data or the company’s algorithms.

He assigned a team of “very expensive” Silicon Valley data scientists to investigate, throwing so much manpower at the task that it added up to several years of full-time work in a matter of months. He then hand-inspected every single elasticity result for a grocery store client to better understand what was going on.

His conclusion? “It’s not the algorithms that are failing. I’ve checked to the nth degree,” said Moran. “What’s happened is the consumer has changed.”

If consumers continue to show they’re willing to buy the same items even as the price increases, that essentially gives the companies watching in real time permission to charge more. If customers balk at price increases, a company may decide to hold off on raising the price.

Some retailers have noted that a portion of their customers, particularly those who are lower-income, are beginning to feel pinched by inflation and are adjusting their spending. For example, Walmart noted that some customers were switching from whole gallons of milk to half gallons, and buying more private-label versions of lunch meat and bacon.

Eversight’s technology can take that into account. Based on the feedback it gets in stores, it may suggest lowering the price on necessities like milk and bread, where consumers are more sensitive to price changes. It has also been recommending to many companies that they lower the price of private-label products, to keep them affordable, while raising the price on the brand-name version.

Adoption of real-time data is accelerating, helping fuel a 62% rise in sales at Eversight last year. Companies that use its technology can typically grow their revenue by 1% to 3% and gross margin by 2% to 5%, Moran said.

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Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Well, drivers, we've got good news and bad news about gas prices - CNN

New York (CNN Business)Editor's Note: This story is part of CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.

There's good news and bad news on the gas prices front. Good news: Some price relief could be on the way. The bad news: It's because traders are betting on a recession.
In simple terms, there are two ways to bring down prices: Increase supply or reduce demand. The former is costly and complicated. The latter happens when consumers start pulling back because prices have risen too much and individual budgets are strained. That's what appears to have happened this spring, as Americans watched gas prices soar above $5 a gallon and overall inflation top four-decade highs.
Although that might spell relief at the fuel pump, it may also signal a different kind of economic pain on the horizon.
"This morning's market action has recession worries written all over it," wrote Peter Boockvar, the chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. He put the odds of a recession this year at 99% because "nothing is 100%."
Prices of oil spiked to $122.11 on June 8, their highest since March and about a dollar off its highest level since 2008.
In just two weeks since that spike, oil prices have fallen 16%. Why? It's inflation, yet again, and the Federal Reserve's campaign to fight it.

Recession fears

Consumer sentiment plunged to a record low, as consumers grew increasingly frustrated with high prices, according to a closely watched survey released June 10.
On the same day, the government's primary inflation gauge, the consumer price index, saw its biggest jump in 40 years, with prices surging 8.6% for the 12 months ending in May. That was higher than the April reading — not the direction anyone was hoping for.
That mix of bad news more or less guaranteed that the Federal Reserve would have to raise interest rates more aggressively than it had previously signaled — a reality that shook investors and sent equity markets tumbling.
When central banks raise interest rates, it slows down economic activity, reducing demand for energy, which brings gas prices down (albeit slowly).
Over the weekend, US drivers got a very slight break on prices as the AAA average for a gallon of unleaded gas fell just below the $5 mark after hitting a high of $5.02 a gallon last week. That price has declined by a fraction of a penny each day since then.
On Wednesday, oil prices continued to fall even after the Biden administration said it would urge lawmakers to suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax in an effort to take the heat off prices -- an action you'd expect would be bullish for demand.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4% to near $109 a barrel on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude, the US standard, sank 4.5% to $104 a barrel.
Gas prices have fallen much more slowly than they went up, reaffirming the adage that prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather. For the two months ahead of last week's record, the AAA average price reading rose 58 times in 60 days, adding 94 cents to the national average price. That's a steady climb of nearly 2 cents a day, compared with less than a penny a day that the price has fallen since Tuesday.
— CNN Business' Chris Isidore contributed to this article.
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Remarks by President Biden on Gas Prices and Putin's Price Hike - The White House

South Court Auditorium
Eisenhower Executive Office Building

2:03 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everyone.  I’d like to talk to you about the actions I’m announcing to bring down gas prices.

First, today I’m calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for the next 90 days, through the busy summer season — busy travel season.

Here’s what that means: Every time you go to the gas station to fill your tank, the federal government charges an 18-cent tax per gallon of gas that you purchase and a 24-cent tax per gallon of diesel you purchase.  It’s a tax that’s been around for 90 years.

It’s important because we use it for the Highway Trust Fund to keep our highways going.  But what I’m proposing is suspending the federal gas tax without affecting the Highway Trust Fund.

And here’s how we do that: With the tax revenues up this year and our deficit down over $1.6 trillion this year alone, we’ll still be able to fix our highways and bring down prices of gas.  We can do both at the same time.

By suspending the 18-cent gas tax — federal gas tax for the next 90 days, we can bring down the price of gas and give families just a little bit of relief.

I call on the companies to pass this along — every penny of this 18-cents reduction — to the consumers.  This is — there’s no time now for profiteering. 

There are a number of other proposals by Democrats in the House and the Senate, and I hope my call for action can help move those proposals forward as well.  But we can also cut gas prices even more in another way.

That’s why the second action I’m taking is calling on states to either suspend the state gas tax as well or find other ways to deliver some relief.

State gas taxes average [another] 30 cents per gallon.  Already, some states have acted. 

In Connecticut and New York, the governors have temporarily suspended their gas tax as well.

In Illinois and Colorado, governors delayed theirs to give families a bit more breathing room as well.

In Minnesota, Governor Walz proposes using state budget surpluses to give households a rebate that will help them pay for gas at the pump or other essential needs.

I’m calling on more states and local governments to take actions like these.

Thanks to our historic economic recovery, which fortified state budgets that had been hurt in the pandemic, states are now in a strong position to be able to afford to take some of these actions.

Now, I fully understand that a gas tax holiday alone is not going to fix the problem, but it will provide families some immediate relief — just a little bit of breathing room — as we continue working to bring down prices for the long haul.

Third, I’m calling on the industry to refine more oil into gasoline and to bring down gas prices.

Let me explain.  I know my Republican friends claim we’re not producing enough oil and I’m limiting oil production.  Quite frankly, that’s nonsense.

Here’s the truth: Just this month, America produced 12 million barrels of oil per day.  That’s the highest — that’s higher than average under my predecessor.  And I’m — we’re on track to set a new record for production next year. 

Plus, I’ve added to that supply of oil by releasing a record 1 million barrels of oil per day from what’s called the Strategic Petro- — Petroleum Reserve.

In fact, I just led the world to coordinate the largest release of global oil reserves in history, including from other countries.  In total, that’s 240 million barrels to boost global supply.

And Republicans falsely claim that I’m blocking production on federal lands.  But again, that’s nonsense.

The industry has more approved permits for production on federal lands than they can possibly use.  That’s a fact.

My administration also directed the sale of gasoline using homegrown biofuels — ethanol, E15 — this summer, which will boost gasoline supplies and lower the price at thousands of gas stations across America.

And I welcome the recent announcement from what’s known as the OPEC+, a group of nearly two dozen oil-producing nations, to increase global oil supply.

The bottom line is: We are setting records in terms of American energy production.  We’re supplementing that supply with a release from our oil reserves.  So the issue isn’t oil production alone; the problem is the refining of that oil into gas at the pump.

During the pandemic, some oil and gas companies shut down refining facilities.

Last week, I sent a letter to the CEOs of the largest oil-refining companies asking them to work with my administration to bring refineries back online to get more gas to the pump at lower prices.

The Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, and members of my team will be meeting with many of these refining companies tomorrow.  And I hope they’ll come up to the table with some real ideas and practical steps in the near term.

And I’m prepared to act quickly and decisively on their recommendations if they make sense to address the immediate challenge in front of us and the American people.

Finally, when the cost of oil does come down, we need the price at the gas stations — that they — what they charge at the pump — to come down as well.

For example, in the last two weeks, the price of oil has fallen by more than $10.00 a barrel.  Normally, this would reduce the cost at the pump about 25 cents a gallon.  Yet, so far, gas stations have only reduced prices by a few cents a gallon.  Some haven’t reduced prices at all.

I’ve heard plenty of explanations from companies and economists about why it normally takes time for these price reductions to reach the consumer.  I might note that when the price of a barrel of oil goes up, it doesn’t make — ta- — take much time for the price at the pump to go up.

So, let’s be honest with one another.  My message is simple.  To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: This is a time of war, global peril, Ukraine.  These are not normal times.

Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you are paying for the product.  Do it now.  Do it today.  Your customers, the American people, they need relief now.

So, let me summarize: 

Today, I’m calling for a federal gas tax holiday, state gas tax holiday for [or] the equivalent relief to consumers; oil companies to use their profits to increase refining capacity rather than buy back their own stock; gas stations to pass along the decree — excuse me, not the decree, but the decrease in oil prices to lower prices at the pump.

And together, these actions could help drop the price at the pump by up to $1.00 a gallon or more.  It doesn’t reduce all of the pain, but it would be a big help.

I’m doing my part.  I want the Congress, the states, and the industry to do their part as well.

And let’s remember how we got here: Putin invaded Ukraine.  Putin invaded Ukraine with 100,000 forces.

Just look at the facts: Since the start of the war in Ukraine this year, gas prices have risen by almost $2.00 a gallon in the United States, and sometimes more, around the world.

But it wasn’t just Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.  It was the refusal of the United States and the rest of the free world to let Putin get away with something we haven’t seen since World War Two.

I said at the time: Siding with Ukraine during the most serious aggression in Europe since World War Two — defending freedom, defending democracy — was not going to go without cost for the American people and the rest of the free world.  We were going to have to pay a price as well — in the cost of military equipment, economic assistance, humanitarian relief.  And sanctioned Russian banking industries.

Russia is also the largest oi- — one of the largest oil producers in the world.  We cut off Russian oil into the United States, and our partners in Europe did the same, knowing that we would see higher gas prices.

We could have turned a blind eye to Putin’s murderous ways, and the price of gas wouldn’t have spiked the way it has.

I believe that would have been wrong.  I believed it then — I believed then and I believe now: The free world had no choice.

America could not stand by and the West could not have stood by — although some suggested at the time — and just watch Putin’s tanks roll into Ukraine and seize a sovereign country.

If we did stand by, Putin wouldn’t have stopped.  Putin would’ve kept going, and we’d face an even steeper price.

And it wasn’t just me.  The American people understood.  The American people rose to the moment.  The American people did what they always have done: defend freedom around the world.  They chose to stand with the people of Ukraine.

We had near unanimous support in the Congress — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — for supporting Ukraine, knowing full well the cost.

So, for all those Republicans in Congress criticizing me today for high gas prices in America, are you now saying we were wrong to support Ukraine?  Are you saying we were wrong to stand up to Putin?  Are you saying that we would rather have lower gas prices in America and Putin’s iron fist in Europe?  I don’t believe that.

Look, I get the easy politics of the attack.  I get that.  But the simple truth is gas prices are up almost $2.00 a gallon because of Vladimir Putin’s ruthless attack on Ukraine, and we wouldn’t let him get away with it.  And we’re doing everything we can to reduce this pain at the pump now.


And if those experiences has shown us anything, it’s that we need to grow and harness more energy here at home.

Let’s lower the price of electric vehicles so we never have to pay at the pump in the first place.

Major auto companies are preparing for 50 percent of future sales to be electric vehicles by 2030, 100 percent by 2035.  We’re already building secure supply chains to build these electric vehicles here in America.

And we’re investing almost $100 billion in public transit and rail, for all the studies show that it will take millions of cars off the road and significantly reduce pollution if there’s a serious transportation system available.

Let’s keep accelerating our deployment of homegrown resources — sources of energy like solar and wind and nuclear and hydrogen and carbon capture and storage — and keep developing battery technologies so we can store that power we need when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.

Folks, let’s make sure we’re never again forced to pay the price of a menacing dictator halfway around the world.

We can deal with the imme- — this immediate crisis of high gas prices and still seize the clean energy future.

We’re Americans.  We can do both.  We have the most qualified people in the world.


Let me close with this: Even as we lead the world in defending democracy and standing up to a brutal autocrat, there are actions we can take to help American families now.  We have taken them.  We are taking them.  The federal gas tax holiday, state gas tax holiday.  Bringing back refineries, putting them back online.

We just have to keep going.  I promise you I’m doing everything possible — everything possible to bring the price of energy down, gas prices down.  And I want to make sure we all work on this together.

May God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  Thank you very much.


2:16 P.M. EDT

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Biden pitches a summer gas tax holiday as price hovers around $5 a gallon - Idaho Capital Sun

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress and state legislatures to provide a temporary reprieve from gas taxes — but members of his own party and Republicans appeared opposed, making it look unlikely on the federal level.

In addition, many state legislatures are out of session for the year and aren’t expected to return to their capitals until January. 

Biden, nonetheless, saying the decision would help alleviate the tight budgets many families are facing as prices climb, urged federal and state lawmakers to provide a 90-day break from gas taxes. 

He also asked petroleum companies to increase the number of refineries producing gas for vehicles. And he said companies should pass on the slightly lower price of gasoline per barrel to consumers as well as the savings from any gas tax holiday, instead of keeping it themselves. 

“I call on the companies to pass this along, every penny of this 18-cent reduction, to the consumers,” Biden said, referring to the federal gasoline tax. “There’s no time now for profiteering.” 

If all four things were to take place — a federal gas tax holiday, a state break, increased refining and companies passing along lower prices of gasoline — prices could come down by $1 per gallon, he said. 

Democrats slam gas tax pause

Members of his own party don’t seem on board, however. 

U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, rejected the idea of a gas tax holiday before Biden gave his afternoon speech. 

“Although well-intentioned, this policy would at best achieve only miniscule relief while blowing a $10 billion dollar hole in the Highway Trust Fund that would need to be filled if we want to continue to fix crumbling bridges, address the spike in traffic deaths, and build a modern infrastructure system,” DeFazio said in a statement. 

“Furthermore, encouraging state governments to suspend their gas taxes undermines the impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by reducing funds available to states to spend on infrastructure improvements,” DeFazio continued.

Need to get in touch?

Have a news tip?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement that she will “see where the consensus lies on a path forward for the President’s proposal in the House and the Senate.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he believes “the most important thing we can do to lower gas prices is crack down on big oil’s manipulation of the oil markets.”

Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, said Tuesday that a gas tax holiday likely wouldn’t provide drivers much relief. 

“Whatever you thought of the merits of a gas tax holiday in February it is a worse idea now,” he tweeted. “Refineries are even more constrained now so supply is nearly fully inelastic. Most of the 18.4 cent reduction would be pocketed by industry — with maybe a few cents passed on to consumers.”

While Furman had previously “guesstimated that two-thirds of the benefits might go to consumers,” he said this week that was “probably overly generous at the time.”

“Regardless, would be even less now. I would expect consumers to get at most one-third of the benefits,” he wrote. 

A nationwide gas tax holiday, he added, would likely add to inflation, though not by much “because the majority of it would be windfall profits for the oil industry and that is not particularly stimulative. But still goes in the wrong direction.”

Gasoline prices edge up, according to AAA

The nationwide average price for a gallon of gasoline has steadily increased this year from about $3.30 in January to just under $5 in mid-June, according to AAA. 

Georgia ($4.46), Louisiana ($4.51), Tennessee ($4.58) and North Carolina ($4.60), are among the states with the lowest gasoline prices in the country, according to AAA.

The U.S. gas tax was last increased in 1993 from 14.1 cents to 18.4 cents per gallon. The nationwide tax on diesel is 24 cents a gallon. 

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.

Much of that money goes to the Highway Trust Fund, which gets about 80% of its funding from gas taxes, which it then uses to fund road construction and other transportation infrastructure projects. 

The U.S. gas tax is not tied to inflation, which means that in the nearly 30 years since it was last increased, it has lost more than 45% of its purchasing power, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. 

The United States is not the only country facing high inflation and rising gas prices. 

More than 90 countries, including Hong Kong ($11.35), Israel ($8.71) and Canada ($6.55), all have higher gasoline prices per gallon than the United States, according to a website that tracks global prices. 

Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.

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Transcript: A Concrete Plan to Bring the Price of Oil Down Right Now - Bloomberg

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Transcript: A Concrete Plan to Bring the Price of Oil Down Right Now  Bloomberg

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Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Solana Price (SOL/USD) | Today's Price | NextAdvisor with TIME - NextAdvisor

We want to help you make more informed decisions. Some links on this page — clearly marked — may take you to a partner website and may result in us earning a referral commission. For more information, see How We Make Money.

How to Use This Price Tracker

Cryptocurrency pricing data can help investors find opportunities in the market and make more informed investment decisions. NextAdvisor’s price tracker shows historical price, trading volume, market capitalization, and other important metrics for investors, especially those who are just starting to dip their toes into crypto investing.

While everyday investors probably don’t need every last bell and whistle to make informed investment decisions, there are some generally applicable key crypto metrics and indicators worth considering:

Crypto Indicators and Metrics for Beginner Investors

Price: As with any investment, price is where it starts and ends for investors. Pricing is highly volatile in cryptocurrency, but viewed over time can give investors an idea of how a given coin’s value has gone up (or down) over time.

Market Capitalization: In general, the higher the value of the market cap the safer the investment. Market cap is the total value of a cryptocurrency, and is calculated by multiplying the price of the cryptocurrency with the number of coins in circulation. The amount of tokens or coins circulating can be viewed as an indicator of a coin’s demand.

Volume: Higher volume typically means a given cryptocurrency has more market liquidity, meaning more ability for investors to sell an investment when they want to realize a profit. It represents how much crypto is bought and sold over a period of time, typically 24 hours.

About Solana

There are a lot of “ethereum killers” out there, but if there’s one that you should pay particular attention to, it’s solana (SOL). The blockchain platform has picked up steam over the last year, becoming the second-largest smart-contract network behind ethereum. 

“Solana is supposed to do what ethereum does, but better, quicker and cheaper,” says Georgiy Roykhman, crypto investor and founder of the financial education channel Funancialism. “It’s especially gaining ground for those who want access to NFT projects because it’s a cheaper point of entry.”

Solana’s transaction fees are a tiny fraction of ethereum’s, making it much more affordable to do things like buy, sell, or trade NFTs, which exploded in popularity in 2021. The explosion of NFTs led solana’s price to skyrocket to an all-time high of $260 last year, placing it in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Solana is also faster and more technologically developed than other blockchains, though it has been criticized for having several major network outages over the last year. Like other cryptos in the market, solana (SOL) is currently experiencing a pullback in price as investors retreat from risky assets amid macroeconomic uncertainty. 

“I would have expected solana to drop a little faster than other altcoins,” says Roykhman. “However, it’s on pace with the rest of the crypto bear market and has managed to hang in there.”

How Does Solana Work?

Solana was born out of a white paper published in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko, a Russian computer engineer and now CEO of solana, who described a way to verify transactions on the blockchain using a system known as proof of history (PoH). Developers Greg Fitzgerald and Stephen Akridge also worked on the project, publishing code that relied on timestamps to verify transactions on the blockchain. The SOL coin launched in 2020.

Solana was largely unknown until 2021 when it began gaining traction in the marketplace. Considered an “ethereum killer,” solana is known for faster transaction times and lower costs than ethereum and considered a popular alternative for building decentralized apps and trading NFTs. Additionally, as concerns about energy use by blockchain technology grow, solana claims it’s a more environmentally-friendly blockchain. An average Solana transaction uses less energy than three Google searches, according to a March energy report published by the crypto network.

What sets Solana apart from other cryptocurrencies is its proof of history (PoH) technology to verify transactions on the network. Timestamps are used as part of the process, allowing computers around the world to agree on a time that the transaction took place and to determine which order the transactions occur. 

According to solana, an individual computer could verify the entire public transaction record on the blockchain because of the timestamp — and accomplish this without the need to be connected to the network. Even with this assurance, however, solana has experienced several recent network outages and failures. In the beginning of June, validators in the network stopped processing new blocks for several hours and apps built on solana’s blockchain were taken offline, which sent solana’s price down more than 12%.

“When something gets hyped, like an NFT project, all the traffic can overwhelm the network and it goes down,” Roykhman says. “Solana gets hammered for halting trades and network outages.” 

What Gives Solana Its Value?

Like other “ethereum killers,” solana’s value lies in its fast transaction speed and low cost. Its blockchain processes more than 2,000 transactions per second, and its average cost per transaction is $0.00025, according to its website. That’s significantly less than ethereum, which averages 30 transactions per second and costs as high $200 per transaction.

Crypto investors looking for a blockchain platform that has proven its use case but that isn’t as expensive as ethereum are often drawn to solana, Roykhman points out. However, even with increased speed and lower fees, it’s important to be careful when evaluating a cryptocurrency for long-term value. Medhin suggests that a lot of hype around altcoins drives prices, and many of them may not hold value or survive the market in the long term.

Solana Market Cap

Solana’s market capitalization has seen a huge range recently, from about $12 billion to more than $75 billion. The exact number is found by multiplying the current number of coins in existence — nearly 342 million — with its price at a given time. As solana’s price fluctuates, which it does frequently, so too does its market capitalization. In the past few weeks, solana’s price has been between $30 to $130, which translates into a significant range in market capitalization:

  • $30 x $342 million = $ 10.3 billion 
  • $70 x $342 million = $23.9 billion
  • $120 x $342 million = $41 billion

How to Buy Solana

Because solana is a fairly popular altcoin, it’s easy to buy. You can buy solana by first choosing an established cryptocurrency exchange that guarantees security, ease, and the ability to pull out your funds at any given moment. Popular exchanges that allow you to buy solana include Coinbase, FTX.US, Crypto.com, Binance.US, and Kraken. Using an exchange like Coinbase or Crypto.com may have higher fees, but may be worth the additional cost for ease and security, especially if you’re just starting to invest in crypto.

After researching cryptocurrency exchanges, you can choose one that works for you and open an account. You’ll need to connect your bank account or use another funding source to transfer fiat currency into your crypto wallet on the exchange. Once you’ve set up your account, you can purchase as little as $1 of solana on most crypto exchanges. 

Before investing in any crypto, make sure to do your due diligence and limit your exposure to risk. Only invest what you’re OK with losing as all cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and volatile. Experts recommend that you limit your total cryptocurrency exposure to 5% of your investment portfolio. Before investing in crypto, make sure you have a well-stocked emergency fund, paid off high-interest debt, and are investing in a tax-advantaged retirement account.

Once you have your solana coins, you have several options of where to store them. With many exchanges, it’s possible to keep your SOL in a hot wallet on the exchange. You can also move your coins off the exchange into a cold crypto wallet, which is typically the most secure option.  

Solana Price History

Even though solana was first conceived in 2017, the coin wasn’t released until 2020. It first hit the market with a price of around 78 cents, and the price of SOL remained below $2 for most of 2020, though it briefly reached a high above $4 in August 2020.

The price of solana skyrocketed in 2021. It went from almost $2 at the beginning of 2021 to nearly $56 by May. In early November 2021, the price of solana peaked at almost $260. That run-up sparked a lot of interest in solana. One of the main reasons solana saw such a big bump in price, according to both Roykhman, is because NFTs became also very popular in 2021. Solana offered a chance for those interested in NFTs to buy them at much lower prices and with lower fees.

“Solana saw a big rally in price, growing from less than $2 to peaking above $250 in 2021. In some ways, the way solana grew, it sacrificed security for a big splash and to see a price gain” says Yoni Medhin, founder of Grain4Grain and a member of the advisory board for crypto investing firm Energy Funders, referring to solana’s network outages. “But now it’s fallen to close to $30.”

Solana has fallen more than 50% since reaching its all-time high in November 2021 as investors have moved away from risky investments amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty. By June 2022, the price of SOL was just above $30.

Solana vs. Ethereum

Ethereum and solana are similar in that they’re both designed for smart contracts. They are used by developers and others to build decentralized apps in the blockchain space, as well as for gaming and NFTs. But there are a few key differences between the two: Solana relies on proof-of-history, while ethereum uses proof-of-work (PoW) to validate and verify transactions. 

Ethereum is slated to become faster, cheaper, and more sustainable when it goes through its massive upgrade later this year and transitions to proof-of-stake (PoS). Experts are waiting to see how investors and companies building their tech on ethereum’s platform respond to the changes and how it’ll affect ethereum’s competitors. 

Roykhman points out that ethereum is older and more established and has a more diverse ecosystem for decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, but solana has a robust gaming community. Solana has been trying to attract developers by offering bounties to those who identify bugs and promote its gaming functions.

Medhin says that one of the main issues with solana or any other “ethereum killer” is the fact that the project relies on branding itself relative to the ethereum platform.

“It’s kind of pie in the sky to want to be an ethereum killer,” Medhin says. “It’s kind of futile. You have to build momentum in the market and you need time and a huge user base to build it up.”

Solana’s proof-of-history approach has given it an edge in the ability to process transactions quickly and cheaply, but it’s unreliability as a network raises questions. Roykhman says solana will likely continue to hold some share of the market, but might not achieve its full potential if it can’t minimize its outages when the network becomes overwhelmed.

Frequently Asked Questions 

How much is solana worth?

Solana has ranged drastically in price, from 78 cents to almost $260. But that’s just par for the course — prices for cryptocurrencies are volatile and change frequently.

How high can solana’s price go?

Solana’s high was almost $260 in 2021. However, it has fallen dramatically from that price since. Whether solana go back up depends on its long-term viability, as well as general market conditions.

Does solana coin have a future?

Whether solana has a future depends on whether it can prove its long-term ability to solve a problem and remain stable. Some experts believe solana needs to become a more reliable network, with fewer outages, if it expects to truly become an ethereum killer.

The information contained herein is provided “as is” for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as investment advice or for trading purposes. Information contained herein is not and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell securities or any assets. The information has been authored from sources we believe to be reliable; however no guarantee is made or implied with respect to its accuracy, timeliness or completeness. Presenters may own the assets they discuss. You should not treat any opinion expressed by presenters as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of their opinions. The information and content are subject to change without notice. We are not under any obligation to update or correct any information provided herein. Past performance is not indicative of future results. We do not provide any individualized investment advice. Accordingly, this material does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for any person’s individualized circumstances. You must make an independent decision regarding any investment suggestions covered by the material. Before acting on any investment suggestions from the material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and strongly consider seeking advice from your own financial or investment advisor. You should be aware of the real risk of loss in following any strategy or investment discussed.

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Companies' reluctance to roll back price rises poses US inflation risk - Financial Times

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Companies' reluctance to roll back price rises poses US inflation risk    Financial Times from...