“The desire for more, the fear of missing out, the tendency to compare against others, the influence of the crowd and the dream of the sure thing—these factors are near universal. Thus they have a profound collective impact on most investors and most markets. This is especially true at the market extremes. The result is mistakes—frequent, widespread, recurring, expensive mistakes.” ― Howard Marks

1. Elon Musk Announced that Tesla had bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin — Tesla, which announced that it bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet, and that it plans to allow car buyers to pay in Bitcoin. For Tesla, one big reason for the investment appears to be the enthusiasm of its chief executive, Elon Musk. Alsok, Mastercard said Wednesday it will start allowing businesses to accept some crypto payments, though they’ll be converted into standard currencies before they hit the register. On Thursday, BNY Mellon, founded by Alexander Hamilton, said it will hold and transfer cryptocurrencies for customers, just like it does with other assets.
2. U.S., France Flex Muscles in South China Sea — Two U.S. carrier groups are conducting exercises in the waters disputed by China, raising Beijing’s ire as France announced one of its attack submarines had sailed through the zone. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that a French attack submarine and its support vessel had just sailed through the South China Sea to reaffirm, together with Australia, Japan and the U.S., that “international law is the only rule that matters.”
International powers have contested China’s ambitions on most of the resource-rich area, after Beijing built military outposts on reefs and sandbars transformed into man-made islands in order to claim sovereignty on the 12-miles zone of territorial waters.
3. Bitcoin to Come to America’s Oldest Bank, BNY Mellon — the custody bank said late last week that it will hold, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset-management clients. Custodians like BNY Mellon keep track of money managers’ assets—whether they are physical things like real estate or cash housed in an account with another bank—storing some themselves while attesting to the existence of others. BNY Mellon said it would allow digital assets to pass through the same plumbing used by managers’ other, more traditional holdings—from Treasurys to technology stocks—using a platform that is now in prototype. The bank is already discussing plans with clients to bri Tesla, which announced on Monday that it bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet, and that it plans to allow car buyers to pay in Bitcoin. For Tesla, one big reason for the investment appears to be the enthusiasm of its chief executive, Elon Muskng their digital currencies into the fold.
4. Biden, China’s Xi Hold Talks Over Human Rights, Trade, Climate — President Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since taking office in a call in which he said he raised issues of human rights, trade policy and international security that divide the two countries while also holding open the possibility of working together on climate change and nuclear proliferation. Mr. Biden in recent days spoke with a host of allies in Europe and Asia, signaling that he seeks to deal with China as the leader of the world’s democracies rather than solely an American president. The U.S. needs to “join together with others to hold China accountable for its abuses and to shape China’s choices going forward,” said a senior administration official.
5. Trump Acquitted of Inciting Insurrection, Even as Bipartisan Majority Votes ‘Guilty’ — the 57-to-43 tally fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, and allow the Senate to move to disqualify him from holding future office. Among the Republicans breaking ranks to find guilty the man who led their party for four tumultuous years, demanding absolute loyalty, were Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: