Sunday, December 31, 2023

You Can Grab a Sam's Club Membership at Half-Price Right Now - CNET

Budgeting for your everyday essentials can be difficult these days, as the necessities add up and get expensive quickly. Buying in bulk is one way to bring those costs down a bit, and we've spotted a great deal from StackSocial that will nab you a one-year Sam's Club membership at half-price. While membership will usually run you $50, this deal drops the cost down to just $25. This offer won't last long, so we recommend making your purchase sooner rather than later if you don't want to miss out on these savings.

Sam's Club can help you save on a ton of everyday purchases. You'll also get exclusive prices at select Sam's Club gas pumps, along with free flat-tire repair, battery testing and windshield-wiper replacement. And your membership comes with additional perks outside of the store, such as discounts on hotels, rental cars, live events, attractions, movies and more.

Sam's Club offers so much more than just everyday goods, too. The big-box store has a huge selection of electronics like TVs and robot vacuums, as well as furniture, clothing, jewelry, games and plenty of other items. So no matter what you use it for, your Sam's Club membership will pay for itself in no time.

Plus, with your Sam's Club membership, you can get curbside pickup for a flat fee of $4 an order, which is a massive time-saver when you've got a busy week, as well as a same-day delivery option for just $12 an order.

Note, however, that this deal is only for new memberships and not renewals, and once you sign up, your membership will automatically renew each year at the standard price until you cancel. If you decide you do want to cancel, you can do that on the company's website.

More holiday shopping deals from CNET

Adblock test (Why?)

from "price" - Google News https://ift.tt/Jd8S4o9
via IFTTT

BTC price targets $42K 2023 close as Bitcoin OG says ETF 'not priced in' - Cointelegraph

BTC price predictions diverge over the contentious ETF decision date, with many Bitcoin traders expecting a comedown after initial spike higher.

Join us on social networks

Bitcoin (BTC) tracked $42,500 into the 2023 yearly close as traders began to see “interesting” BTC price behavior.

*BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView*

Post-ETF BTC price drop targets include $36,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD keeping volatility away during the final hours of the yearly candle.

After failing to secure a breakout of its December trading range, Bitcoin remained concerning for bulls ahead of the key legislative event to come early next month — the potential approval of the first United States spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF).

“Technically, H4 is in a downtrend and wants 40.5K~ IMO. But with that said, ETF approval is supposed to come within a week or two,” popular trader Crypto Chase wrote in part of the day’s analysis on X (formerly Twitter).

Crypto Chase, who previously opted to go short BTC at $43,000, predicted a maximum push to $46,000 on the back of a positive ETF decision, with $36,000 coming quickly should the product be rejected.

Continuing on the topic, popular social media commentator WhalePanda likewise saw the scope for limited upside around the approval, with a retracement to follow.

“ETF approval spikes us to $50K-ish, then depending on how long it takes for the ETFs to launch it will start selling off, maybe to low $40k-ish if it takes a month before they launch, don't see us go below $38k,” he told X subscribers.

“After that just a steady rise like a normal Bitcoin bull market passing $70k in April-May with some stalling in the summer and then end the year at around $100k-120k.”

The spot Bitcoin ETF continued to prove a divisive topic — Adam Back, CEO of blockchain startup Blockstream, repeatedly argued that it was “not priced in” to the market.

The ETFs are not priced in
— Adam Back (@adam3us) December 31, 2023

At current levels, BTC/USD was still up nearly 60% in Q4 and around 160% year-to-date, per data from statistics resource CoinGlass.

*BTC/USD monthly returns (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass*

Analyst: Ether to "outperform" Bitcoin next year

Taking a closer look at short-timeframe order book trends, meanwhile, traders saw cause for excitement into the yearly close.

Bid liquidity on U.S. exchange Coinbase had moved higher toward spot price, Skew and CredibleCrypto noted. Both suggested that this could trigger livelier trading conditions.

$BTC Coinbase Spot
those bids around $40K have now been moved up above the $41K 400BTC bid

things are getting interesting now https://t.co/IruykFPFVH pic.twitter.com/VAmlqj5UXV
— Skew Δ (@52kskew) December 31, 2023

Coinbase bidder who first appeared 5 days ago just lifted his bids up from 39.5-40.5k range to 41.5k-42.5k aka right below current price $BTC pic.twitter.com/URMCeskQph
— CrediBULL Crypto (@CredibleCrypto) December 31, 2023

Concluding the year, meanwhile, Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MN Trading, forecast that 2024 would be altcoins’ time to shine.

“The total market capitalization of Crypto rallied from $1T to $1.62T. The upward run is excellent but is looking at a potential top. The area around $1.85T or $2.10T could be an area for consolidation,” he summarized on Dec. 31.

“What's next? Ethereum to outperform Bitcoin in 2024. Enjoy the ride!”

*Total crypto market cap annotated chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X*

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Adblock test (Why?)

from "price" - Google News https://ift.tt/PulfDOj
via IFTTT

Saturday, December 30, 2023

How to keep your costs low as Seattle City Light price hikes begin January - KIRO Seattle

SEATTLE — Seattle City Light customers will start seeing rate hikes in January. It’s part of three separate increases that customers will soon see on their electric bills.

Seattle City Light told KIRO 7 that the hikes are coming from three areas. First, a four percent increase was approved by the Seattle City Council last fall. Secondly, a 4.5 percent increase is also happening because the utility burned through millions of dollars of its emergency fund or rate stabilization account.

Finally, because the year has been poor for hydropower production, hydroelectric dams are not producing enough energy to keep up with demand. The utility said it’s had to make up for that by buying power.

There are some simple steps you can take to reduce the cost of your energy bill. Nathan Champneys, the electrical service manager for Harts Services explained that water heaters are one of the biggest energy suckers in a house.

He recommends switching from a traditional to a tankless water heater.

“The difference being that the tankless heats the water as it comes through the unit versus on a tank unit we’re literally heating 50 gallons of water 24/7 all the time,” he said.

Champneys also recommended adding a recirculation pump to either tank.

“A recirc pump eliminates that troublesome time that we all have when we have to run the cold water for 3, 4, 5 minutes waiting for the hot water to get there,” he said.

However, the easiest thing to start with is lightbulbs.

“Traditional incandescent bulbs, that’s a 60-watt bulb, the equivalent of LED uses about 9 watts so you can cut your energy bill from about $50 per bulb to about $5 per bulb to operate per year,” Champneys said.

He also recommends installing a smart thermostat and motion lights or switches.

“Smart thermostats are connected to the internet and can integrate with your phone and your location so when you arrive home it automatically turns the heat up when you leave it automatically turns it down,” he said. “If you have a closet light that your kids are constantly leaving on you can install a motion switch on that closet and when you go into the closet it will turn the light on when you leave it will turn itself off.”

One major key to energy saving is knowing what is costing you money, so Champneys also recommends having a smart panel.

“Where you can actually look on your phone and see what each circuit is costing you to run and so you can make a more educated decision as to what to put your energy into within your house,” he said.

Adblock test (Why?)

from "price" - Google News https://ift.tt/9sm6XGR
via IFTTT

Gold closes out 2023 above $2063, technicals point to price gains in January - Kitco NEWS

Gold closes out 2023 above $2063, technicals point to price gains in January | Kitco News

commodities

/

gold

Gold closes out 2023 above $2063, technicals point to price gains in January

By Ernest Hoffman

Published:

Dec 29, 2023 - 9:56 PM

Updated:

Dec 29, 2023 - 10:01 PM

Kitco News

The Leading News Source in Precious Metals

Kitco NEWS has a diverse team of journalists reporting on the economy, stock markets, commodities, cryptocurrencies, mining and metals with accuracy and objectivity. Our goal is to help people make informed market decisions through in-depth reporting, daily market roundups, interviews with prominent industry figures, comprehensive coverage (often exclusive) of important industry events and analyses of market-affecting developments.

Gold closes out 2023 above $2063, technicals point to price gains in January teaser image

(Kitco News) - If you told investors in September of last year that by the end of 2023, the gold price would be closing higher than the year, many would have dismissed it out of hand. At the time, gold was trading in the $1,640 range, well off its highs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and high interest rates were providing additional headwinds for the precious metal.

Well, interest rates rose even higher this year, but spot gold still managed to finish the final trading day of 2023 trading at $2,063.45 at the time of writing, with many analysts predicting hundreds more in gains during the year to come.

Veteran trader CEO Technician noted in a post on X that gold had a solid year.

#Gold quarterly candlestick chart - the year has officially drawn to a close in futures land and the numbers say gold rose 13.5%📈in 2023. pic.twitter.com/Q5N07SHHaA

— CEO Technician (@CEOTechnician) December 29, 2023

Kevin Wadsworth of NorthStarCharts hearkened back to those September 2022 doldrums to reflect on how far the precious metal has come, and why he was so confident in his bullish predictions.

When gold was $1600, why was I so confident we were more likely to head to $2500+ than $1500 or less?Evidence, evidence, evidence. Ignore narratives & fairytales (the US Dollar IS NOT the strongest currency - the swiss Franc has crushed it for over 50 years) #Gold #Silver pic.twitter.com/p4ORRWgeHj

— Northstar (@NorthstarCharts) December 29, 2023

In another post, he shared an annual chart showing gold breaking to the upside ahead of 2024. “This will be gold's highest yearly close EVER,” he wrote.

Gold - Breakout on 12-month candle chart. This will be golds highest yearly close EVER #preciousmetals #silver #gold pic.twitter.com/EgNy2jqXfg

— Northstar (@NorthstarCharts) December 29, 2023

And all of this comes ahead of what should be a very strong start to the new year, if history is any indication.

According to analysis by the World Gold Council, gold tends to perform very well in the first month of the year, posting an average return of 1.79% in January since 1971, nearly three times the precious metal’s long-term monthly average.

“This doesn’t mean that gold prices rise every January,” the WGC said. “There’ve been several years when it hasn’t, most recently in 2021 and 2022. Years with negative returns in January generally coincided with periods when the US dollar has strengthened – often significantly.”

But with the greenback seeing a recent pullback, and with rate cuts and treasury yields set to fall in the new year, January is shaping up to be one of the strong ones.

Alastair MacLeod, Head of Research for Goldmoney and SchiffGold, shared the following chart summarizing his perspective on gold’s likely trajectory in 2024. “It puts the price relationship in the right perspective!” he said.

Ernest Hoffman

Ernest Hoffman is a Crypto and Market Reporter for Kitco News. He has over 15 years of experience as a writer, editor, broadcaster and producer for media, educational and cultural organizations. Ernest began working in market news in 2007, establishing the broadcast division of CEP News in Montreal, Canada, where he developed the fastest web-based audio news service in the world and produced economic news videos in partnership with MSN and the TMX. He has a Bachelor's degree Specialization in Journalism from Concordia University. You can reach Ernest at 1-514-670-1339.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.