Transcript:
Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
All ears are tuned to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he lays out his plan for lowering interest rates as inflation moderates and the labor market cools. Investors are betting with certainty that there will be a cut of at least a quarter percentage point at the meeting in September. Wall Street is also digesting the biggest jump in new home sales in 14 months. The median sales prices rose to $429,800.
Related: 2024 election has already changed how Americans feel about money
In other news: Crypto is betting big in the 2024 election cycle. The industry has donated about $119 million so far, that’s nearly half of all corporate donations this election cycle, according to estimates by Public Citizen, a non-profit watchdog.
The bulk of the political contributions have gone to a bipartisan super PAC known as Fairshake. According to its website “Fairshake supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generations of the internet.”
Coinbase and Ripple are responsible for 80 percent of the crypto industry’s donations. Coinbase has contributed more than $50 million and Ripple has contributed $48 million. Both companies have been locked in legal battles with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Biden Administration.
Republicans have tried to paint their party as pro-crypto. In August, Donald Trump announced a new crypto project for his family business called The DeFiant ones. But crypto is playing both sides of the aisle. Political donations are going to Republicans and Democrats, in hopes of tilting the balance away from legislation and regulations the industry considers too tight.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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