Is the Nickel Market Broken? – The New York Times

Today, for the third time in three days, a plunge in price at the open of trading almost immediately triggered the exchange’s daily limit, below which no further trades are allowed.

Nickel is a key component in batteries for electric vehicles, and volatile prices could slow the transition away from fossil fuels.

The rapid rise in price threatened Tsingshan and others with huge margin calls, prompting the London Metal Exchange to halt trading and cancel trades made at the highest prices during the frenzy.

“Commodity producers are looking to hedge, and someone needs to be on the other side of that trade.” For its part, the LME said that the nickel market is meant to serve end users of the metal, meaning it had to step in when prices got out of whack.

The move exposed a weakness in the F.T.C., which has sought to challenge more deals: A vacancy among its commissioners has left the regulator’s decision-making deadlocked along partisan lines.

Experts are watching the rapid spread of a new subvariant across the continent; previous waves in Europe preceded ones in the U.S.

bankers and lawyers gathered in person at Tulane’s Corporate Law Institute for the first time in two years to talk deals .

Foreign crypto exchanges that do business with Russians who are under sanctions would themselves be sanctioned under a new bill sponsored by 10 Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

They relied on the testimony of Michael Chobanian, the founder of the crypto exchange Kuna, who has worked closely with the Ukrainian government on fund-raising for the war .

It’s “not exactly true” that Russia can use crypto to avoid all sanctions, Chobanian said, adding that it’s “impossible” to convert large amounts of cash into crypto.

He told senators to “think of crypto as energy” that can be used for good or ill.

Russia’s invasion on Ukraine has had a ripple effect across the globe, adding to the stock market’s woes and spooking investors.

Europe gets nearly 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and it is likely to be walloped with higher heating bills.

Russia is the world’s largest supplier of wheat; together, it and Ukraine account for nearly a quarter of total global exports.

The price of palladium, used in automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones, has been soaring amid fears that Russia, the world’s largest exporter of the metal, could be cut off from global markets.

Last month, before Russian troops invaded, lawmakers in Ukraine approved a bill bolstering the development of cryptocurrency in the country.

As of March 15, the Crypto Fund of Ukraine raised close to $52 million in crypto assets, including a CryptoPunk NFT, Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Solana, Monero and Tether.

We do not reveal a complete list for security purposes, but crypto assets proved extremely helpful in facilitation of funding flows to the armed forces and have been used for helmets, bulletproof vests, medicine, walkie-talkies, rations, thermal imagers, optics equipment and also humanitarian aid.

Instead, they ‘stake’ their funds temporarily, which generates high-interest yields that are transferred to a wallet owned by our ministry.

Each NFT will consist of one news piece from trusted sources and one piece of art by Ukrainian and international artists that is a sober documentation of events, supported by a personal emotional reflection.

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