Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Saturday 3 March 2018
A25

S&P 500 erases early plunge and rises to cap frenetic week

country and that "trade "I view nearly every one of on customers not only in
wars are good" and "easy Trump's actions through a Peoria but also Paris and
to win." negotiation lens," he said. Peru.q
Investors had a different "This was an anchor, an
impression. Markets tum- opening bid. ... I think the
bled from Asia to Europe market senses some of
on fears that escalating re- that, and I would imagine
taliation between countries that we will see some horse
could choke off trade and trading going on with what
the global economy. The ultimately happens with
president of the European these tariffs."
Union's governing body The S&P 500 still ended the
suggested possible tariffs week with a loss of 2 per-
on blue jeans and motor- cent, its third decline that
cycles. severe in the last five weeks.
The logo for U.S. Steel appears above a trading post on the floor The S&P 500 trimmed its loss Last year, the worst weekly
of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 2, 2018. U.S. as the day went on and loss was just 1.4 percent.
stocks went on another dizzying ride Friday and worked their was bouncing between If a trade war does indeed
way back from an early-morning plunge to send the Standard &
Poor's 500 index to its first gain in four days. gains and losses by the break out, it could threat-
(AP Photo/Richard Drew) early afternoon. It accel- en a key reason inves-
erated in the last half hour tors were optimistic about
By STAN CHOE a more aggressive Federal of trading and ended at stocks coming into 2018:
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Reserve. 2,691.25, up 13.58 points, or The global economy is fi-
stocks went on another When U.S. markets opened 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones nally strengthening in sync,
dizzying ride Friday and for trading, the S&P 500 lost industrial average fell 70.92, which should lead to higher
worked their way back from as much as 1.1 percent to or 0.3 percent, to 24,538.06, corporate profits.
an early-morning plunge to join a worldwide sell-off af- and the Nasdaq compos- Big U.S. companies are
send the Standard & Poor's ter President Donald Trump ite rose 77.31, or 1.1 per- heavily reliant on global
500 index to its first gain in doubled down on "trade cent, to 7,257.87. trade, and companies in
four days. It was just the lat- war" talk. He took to Twitter Stocks pared their losses the S&P 500 got 43 percent
est swing in a frenetic week to defend his promise from as investors questioned of their sales from outside
for markets around the Thursday to impose stiff tar- how far Trump will end up the United States in 2016,
world as investors recali- iffs on imports of steel and going, said Brent Schutte, according to S&P Dow
brated — again and again aluminum, saying that the chief investment strategist Jones Indices. That means
— how worried to be about United States is losing on at Northwestern Mutual Apple and other big U.S.
a possible trade war and trade with virtually every Wealth Management. companies are dependent

Bitcoin heist: 600 computers stolen in Iceland

By EGILL BJARNASON selling the items. mark. they throw computational
Associated Press "This is a grand theft on a Bitcoin and other cryp- power into the system, oc-
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — scale unseen before," said tocurrencies rely on the casionally receiving — or
Some 600 computers used Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, blockchain, the name giv- "mining" — new bitcoins in
to "mine" bitcoin and oth- the police commissioner en to the public, distributed return. Drumming up that
er virtual currencies have on the southwestern Reyk- ledgers which track the computational power usu-
been stolen from data cen- janes peninsula, where coins' ownership. The Bit- ally means lots of comput-
ters in Iceland in what po- two of the burglaries took coin ledger is powered by ers — and thus lots of elec-
lice say is the biggest series place. "Everything points "miners," so-called because tricity. q
of thefts ever in the North to this being a highly orga-
Atlantic island nation. nized crime."
Some 11 people were ar- Three of four burglaries
rested, including a security took place in December
guard, in what Icelandic and a fourth took place in
media have dubbed the January, but authorities did
"Big Bitcoin Heist." A judge not make the news public
at the Reykjanes District earlier in hopes of tracking
Court on Friday ordered down the thieves.
two people to remain in Bitcoin is a kind of digital
custody. money that isn't tied to a
The powerful computers, bank or a government. It
which have not yet been has been hugely volatile,
found, are worth almost posting some dizzying intra-
$2 million. But if the stolen day rises and falls over the
equipment is used for its past year or so. The price of
original purpose — to cre- a single bitcoin rocketed to
ate new bitcoins — the nearly $20,000 late last year
thieves could turn a mas- and then plunged early this
sive profit in an untrace- year. On Friday, it was trad-
able currency without ever ing just below the $11,000