Month: July 2021

U.S. stocks fell on Friday amid a slide in Amazon shares, but the S&P 500 is still on track to notch its sixth straight positive month.

The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 39 points from Thursday’s all-time record to 35,045.53, supported by a jump in Procter & Gamble shares.

The S&P 500 dropped 15.26 points to 4,403.89, from what had also been a fresh high, dragged down by the consumer discretionary sector.

The NASDAQ lost 83.43 points to 14,694.84.

Major averages are still on pace to wrap up a solid month, although volatility has picked up amid concerns about the economic recovery in the face of the spreading delta variant.

The NASDAQ has climbed 1%, while the Dow has added 1.4% in July, while the broad S&P 500 is up 2.2% over the same period. Utilities, health-care, real estate and technology stocks have led the S&P 500 higher for the month, … Read more

More than 5 million people had a parcel lost or stolen last year, according to Citizens Advice, which has called on the government to start fining firms that keep losing deliveries as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the sector.

Currently, only Royal Mail faces fines for poor service, but the charity said the same sanctions should apply to the whole industry, after surveys showed customers had experienced a range of problems with deliveries. Ten parcels were lost or stolen during each minute over the last 12 months, it claimed.

Citizens Advice said that as many as 20 million people – 38% of all UK adults – had received a “Sorry you were out” card in the last year, despite being home at the time. It said time-strapped couriers had been leaving parcels in insecure places such as doorsteps and bins rather than waiting the extra few seconds for the … Read more

Hybrid shopping models implemented by Amazon reveal what a future without cashiers looks like.

Source link … Read more

Decentralization, in blockchain, refers to the transfer of control and decision-making power from a centralized entity (individual or institution) to a distributed network.

The essence of decentralization is to markedly minimize the extent of trust that must exist among the users and significantly reduce the level of control or authority they have over themselves in ways that harms the functionality of the network.

Bitcoin as a decentralized system 

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that records transactions in a distributed ledger known as a Blockchain. Bitcoin is the most successful out of several attempts to produce virtual money through cryptography. Bitcoin has inspired the advent of other forms of cryptocurrencies. It remains, for the entirety of the past decade, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Now, how does Bitcoin decentralization work?

How does decentralization work on Bitcoin?

The decentralization of Bitcoin is dependent on some of the features in the … Read more

Canada’s main stock index rose at the open on Thursday, lifted by the materials and energy sectors as commodity prices firmed after the U.S. Federal Reserve doused prospects of an increase in lending rates.

The TSX Composite index led off Thursday with a gain of 70.01 points to 20,300.41.

The Canadian dollar hiked 0.29 cents to 80.16 cents U.S.

Cenovus Energy raised its full-year production forecast and posted a near 2% rise in quarterly profit as crude prices returned to pre-pandemic levels. Cenovus shares acquired 24 cents, or 2.4%, to $10.41.

Canadian Pacific Railway topped quarterly profit estimates, boosted by a recovery from the pandemic-led slump in freight volumes. CP shares took on $2.09, or 2.3%, to $92.38.

Scotiabank raised the rating on Air Canada to sector outperform from sector perform. Shares in the “Maple Leaf airline” got lift of 20 cents to $25.19.

Credit Suisse cut the rating on … Read more