😱 Apple Get Fined $500 Million Over Antitrust Infringement

🐺 Hi pack-mates,

This is Howling Markets, the newsletter authority that ensures perfect competition and information on a daily basis!

Today we will be covering:

• Education: What Is Antitrust Law? 📜

• Bitcoin Skyrocketed By 30% In a Month! 📈

• Apple Gets Fined $500 Million Over Antitrust Infringement 😱

• Equity and Debt Markets Daily Update ⚖️

• And more!

Market Watch 👀

What Is Antitrust Law?

Have you ever wondered how the phone industry would have looked if only Apple were allowed to produce them?

Well, we would probably be stuck with an older phone, most likely an Iphone 5 or 6, and its price would be even higher than the current Iphone 15’s. The reason behind this hypothesis is that competition drives innovation, improves quality, decreases prices and increases the overall efficiency in the market.

In fact, as described by classical economists, firms with the possibility of exercising a monopoly power will do so as it will enable them to set higher prices and to decrease costs. Do you believe that Apple would still push out a new phone each year if Samsung weren’t in the market?

Despite the necessity of firms to make profits, it is crucial for governments to ensure a certain degree of competition to promote innovation and to ease the strain that higher prices would pose on the ultimate consumers.

However, the real economy is full of frictions and inefficiencies that could cause lack of competition, and because of this most countries have established competition authorities.

Antitrust law is the set of regulations used by the authorities to promote fair competition by limiting the market power of firms, including regulating M&As, pricing strategies, cooperations and more.

In the US the main competition authority is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) whose mission is to protect the consumers from unfair and deceptive competition practices.

Bitcoin Skyrocketed By 30% In a Month!

Lately, Bitcoin has been performing great and the times where it was hovering just above $15,000 only seem a distant memory.

After a +160% in 2023, 2024 had a rocky start due to the sell-off caused by the launch of the spot ETFs. However, after two weeks of red candles and a 15% drop, the price picked up again and, in a matter of less than a month, Bitcoin gained over 31%.

The main reason behind this price surge is the influx of resources that the spot ETFs are generating. Since their launch on the 11^th of January, these new investment vehicles have been subject to a net influx of over $5 billion, giving a nice boost to Bitcoin’s prices.

Because of this, many of these investment firms, together with companies such as MicroStrategy, have announced an increase in the purchase of Bitcoin.

Additionally, we currently are in a very particular phase in the life of Bitcoin which could have a significant impact on its price. As discussed a few newsletters ago, on the 24^th of April the next Bitcoin halving is expected to occur, so many investors are already pricing in this event.

Halvings have a strong influence on Bitcoin’s prices because they restrict the supply of the crypto, usually causing a period of upswings leading up to the actual event.

Do you think that the price could surge even further before the 24^th of April?

Today’s Howling Question

And now, it is time for our howling question!

We have mentioned that Bitcoin has gained an exceptional 30% over the past couple of weeks, but do precisely you know which was Friday’s closing price of this cryptocurrency?

a)  $45,000

b)  $49,000

c) $52,000

d)  $54,000

e) $57,000

Try to answer the question by yourself, and then check the correct answer after the last interesting news!

Apple Get Fined $500 Million Over Antitrust Infringement

During the legal proceeding started in 2021, Apple has been accused by the European Commission of promoting unfair competition by not informing its users of cheaper music streaming services besides Apple Music.

Initially the action also included a charge of pushing developers to use their own in-app payment system, however, in 2023, the commission decided to drop the latter and narrow the scope to the Apple Music issue which had been reported by Spotify.

The precise amount of the fine is set to be announced at the beginning of March, but as of today, it seems almost certainly in the $500 million ballpark.

Despite this being the first ever fine imposed to Apple by the European Commission, the tech giant is not a novice in antitrust proceedings as it was previously fined $1.1 billion by a French court.

The previous antitrust trial took place in 2020 when Apple had been accused of engaging in anti-competitive behavior, however, after Apple’s appeal, the fine had been reduced to “just” $372 million.

In January, Apple commented that they are actively developing changed to their AppStore, IOS software and Safari browser to better comply with the Commission’s regulations.

Equity and Debt Markets Update

And now, our daily markets update!

Friday has been a pretty monotone day for the stock market characterized by a downward trend throughout the entire trading session. The price opened where it left off on Thursday and then it continued to slide down closing the day -0.48%. However, the price managed to remain above the exceptional $5,000 level.

On the other hand, the bond markets were characterized by more volatility and an upward yield performance. The US10Y yields found support at the 4.2% level and bounced almost +2% higher before slightly retracing and closing the day +1.11%.

Answer

The correct answer is c) $52,000

Since the last week of January, Bitcoin has been outperforming the broader market by returning almost 32% and, last Friday, the price closed at $52,161 breaking, once again, the $50,000 level!

Howl-Worthy Memes 😂

🐺 See you next time!

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