ETFs

Most Asian shares were set for declines as Wall Street stocks took a breather after notching their longest weekly rally this year.

Advisory firm WisdomTree Asset Management Inc. agreed to pay $4 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it failed to deliver on its promise to create exchange-traded funds that avoided investments in fossil fuels or tobacco.

Investors plowed money into exchange-traded funds that buy Taiwanese stocks last week amid broad optimism over the outlook for Asian equities.

One of the most crucial events of the year — the US presidential election on Nov. 5 — is days away. For Wall Street, the race between Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, and Republican former President and nominee Donald Trump adds a layer of volatility at a time when uncertainty about interest rates, the labor market and conflicts in Europe and the Middle East are already testing investor nerves.

Investors laser-focused on the risks looming in the next few weeks may be left unprepared if their worst fears don’t come to pass.

Bitcoin pushed higher on Monday as a spurt of inflows into exchange-traded funds for the largest digital asset as well as optimism about the outlook for US regulations lifted sentiment.

Most Asian stocks are poised to rise in early trading Monday after Wall Street finished last week on fresh highs.

For Wall Street skeptics arguing the good times can’t last, there is plenty of supporting evidence. Equity valuations are stretched, corporate bond spreads are tightening and gold is at a record.

Bitcoin climbed for the fourth time in five days, with speculators targeting $70,000 once again amid growing exuberance for digital assets.

Want to go long Bitcoin-holder MicroStrategy Inc. while shorting megabank JPMorgan Chase & Co.? How about buying streaming giant Netflix Inc. while dumping Comcast Corp.? Or pitting Google-parent Alphabet Inc. against New York Times Co.?

A selloff in Treasuries strengthened the dollar and left equities mixed as new signs of economic vigor led traders to trim expectations for US rate cuts.

A Bank of America Corp. options strategist who correctly anticipated gains in the past is now saying the rally that’s made Chinese equities some of the world’s best this year may have more room to go. And many are positioning for it.

Retail traders are still mostly on the sidelines when it comes to Bitcoin, even as institutional demand pushes the original cryptocurrency closer toward a record high. This may indicate that the market force known as fear of missing out, or FOMO, has yet to set in among individual investors.

An Alabama man was charged with hacking into the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account in January and issuing a fake post about approval of a Bitcoin exchange traded fund.

A word of warning for traders who’ve been pouring billions into Chinese-stock ETFs like never before: The strategy is not only prone to big reversals, it has also lost a cohort of ill-timed investors a fortune over the past decade and counting.