Business
$2 trillion wiped off crypto markets! Bitcoin halves since October; investor company shares sink to multiyear lows – The Times of India
Cryptogiant Bitcoin has suffered sharp losses since the beginning of 2026, tumbling over 20%. The digital currency has given up almost half of its value since October’s record peak of over $124,000, sliding to $67,000, now worth less than it was at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Bitcoin is often pitched as “digital gold” as its returns are just like gold, offering no dividends or profits and price driven by what investors are willing to pay. The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last trading 1.64% higher at $64,153.24 after a volatile session that saw prices swing between gains and losses, having earlier touched a low of $60,008.52. The global crypto market has lost $2 trillion in value since peaking at $4.379 trillion in early October, with $800 billion wiped out in the last month alone, Reuters reported. Bitcoin has declined 28% so far this year, while ether has lost nearly 38% over the same period.As the asset slid, shares of companies holding bitcoin and other digital assets also came under heavy pressure amid ongoing turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, fuelling concerns about stress across the sector. Publicly listed firms that piled into crypto last year, encouraged by US President Donald Trump’s supportive stance, are now grappling with intensifying market challenges.The decline comes as uncertainty over Federal Reserve rate cuts and concerns over AI company valuations weigh on risk assets, pushing bitcoin to its lowest level since November 2024.Strategy shares plunge to multi-year lowsMicroStrategy’s bitcoin-focused arm, Strategy, has seen shares tumble from $457 in July to $111.27 on Thursday, marking their lowest level since August 2024. The stock was last down more than 11%, according to Reuters.In December, Strategy cut its 2025 earnings forecast, citing weak bitcoin performance, and announced plans to create a reserve to support dividend payments. The company now expects full-year earnings between a $6.3 billion profit and a $5.5 billion loss, down from its earlier forecast of $24 billion.Other notable bitcoin buyers have also been hit. UK-based Smarter Web Company (SWC.L) fell nearly 18%, Nakamoto Inc (NAKA.O) lost almost 9%, and Japan’s Metaplanet (3350.T) dropped over 7%.Bitcoin wipes out gains since Trump’s electionBitcoin itself is down nearly 28% since the start of the year, with recent selling accelerating after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. Analysts cited by Reuters say that Warsh’s appointment could lead to a smaller Fed balance sheet, a negative for speculative assets like crypto.Bitcoin has erased all gains made since Trump’s election, when he pledged to overhaul policies toward digital assets. The cryptocurrency last traded at $67,651.“As Bitcoin continues its slide below the psychological barrier of $70,000, it’s clear the crypto market is now in full capitulation mode,” said Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau. “If previous cycles are anything to go by, this is no longer a short-term correction, but rather a transition… and these typically take months, not weeks,” Reuters cited the expert.Broader digital asset holdings also hitCompanies holding other tokens have been affected as well. Alt5 Sigma, which stocks the Trump family’s WLFI token, fell 8.4%. SharpLink Gaming, holding ether, dropped 8%, while Forward Industries, which holds solana, fell nearly 6%.Bitcoin fell to a low of $63,295.74 on Thursday, its weakest since October 2024, before rebounding slightly to $63,525, marking its largest one-day drop since November 2022. Approximately $1 billion in bitcoin positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data.Fed concerns and investor outflowsTrump’s Fed pick, Kevin Warsh, has added to market fears. Analysts say investors worry that a smaller balance sheet will remove liquidity support for speculative assets.“The market fears a hawk with him,” Manuel Villegas Franceschi from Julius Baer told Reuters. “A smaller balance sheet is not going to provide any tailwinds for crypto.”Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted massive outflows from institutional ETFs as a key driver of the decline. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw over $3 billion withdrawn in January, following $2 billion and $7 billion outflows in December and November, respectively. “This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,” they said.Tech sector weakness piles pressure on crypto segmentThe slide in cryptocurrencies has been compounded by a broader downturn in tech stocks, particularly software companies linked to AI. Bitcoin and other tokens have historically tracked risk appetite in technology markets, and the current weakness has intensified losses.“Concerns are being raised around the crypto miners and whether we could be looking at forced liquidations if prices continue to fall, which could lead to a vicious cycle,” said Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar, as cited by Reuters. The analyst further added that crypto “should never be more than a very small portion of a portfolio, but its heavy retail ownership adds to overall market risk.”
A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.
Al Drago | Getty Images
United Airlines flight attendants approved a new five-year labor contract with 31% average raises to base pay by August and other improvements, marking the last of the major carriers with unionized flight crews to reach a deal post-Covid.
The labor deal would give United’s roughly 30,000 flight attendants their first raises in close to six years. The company and the flight attendants’ union reached a preliminary deal in March. Crews had rejected a contract last year.
The union said the contract won 82% approval from the flight attendants, with close to 90% of them voting.
“The contract will immediately change the lives of United Flight Attendants, especially our thousands of new hires who have been hired since the pandemic,” said Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants.
The contract also includes boarding pay, or pay for when the aircraft’s door is open and travelers are getting on. Airlines had for years started flight attendants’ pay clock once the boarding door was closed.
The contract comes with a roughly 7% to 8% increase in compensation and $741 million in back pay, as well as quality-of-life improvements like restrictions on red-eye flights and “sit pay” during disruptions of more than 2½ hours.
Joni Lamb, the president of Daystar Television Network, a televangelism broadcaster she founded with her husband, Marcus Lamb, turning their family into stars of Christian entertainment, died on Thursday. She was 65.
In an announcement posted on Daystar’s website, the company described the cause as “serious health matters” exacerbated by a recent back injury. It did not say where she died.
On a trip to Jerusalem in 1983, shortly after the couple married, Mr. Lamb visited the Mount of Olives and felt God telling him to move to Montgomery, Ala., and start a Christian TV station. He and Ms. Lamb poured their energy and modest finances into the effort and began appearing on the air two years later.
By the time they founded Daystar — in Texas in 1997 — they were experienced entrepreneurs and performers. After just a few years, they owned 24 stations around the country. By 2010, they had become the second-largest Christian broadcaster, after Trinity Broadcasting Network, and were reaching more than 200 countries, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Compared with other televangelists, the Lambs “are younger and come across as more ordinary folks,” David Clark, the president of a rival Christian broadcaster, told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2001. “They come across as being sincere.”
Mr. Clark added: “Marc is sharp, and his wife, Joni, is a big asset.”
The Lambs frequently appeared on their own network in a talk show format, discussing the pleasures and challenges of domestic life in a Christian idiom. Ms. Lamb, who liked to break into song, was Daystar’s leading talk show host, over the decades moderating shows like “Taking a Break With Joni” and “Joni Table Talk.” She would often be surrounded by other female regulars, putting questions to a male guest who had wisdom to impart.
The prominent pastor Jentezen Franklin visited earlier this year, for example, to discuss his new book, “The Power of Short Prayers.” The conversation slipped easily into evangelism.
“For someone watching right now: You’ve been listening; God’s opened your heart,” Ms. Lamb said. “In fact, your heart’s already been opened for some time, as you’ve been looking, searching, and you tried everything else. Always say, ‘Why don’t you try Jesus?’ A simple prayer: That will change your life for eternity.”
During the episode she was flanked, as she often was, by her two daughters, Rachel Lamb Brown and Rebecca Lamb Weiss, and referred to her husband by his first name, as if the viewers at home were family friends.
In 2021, Mr. Lamb died, at 64, of Covid-19, after having frequently suggested that people should pray instead of getting vaccinated. Ms. Lamb announced his death on air.
The travails of the Lamb family were often incorporated into the station’s programming. In 2010, Mr. Lamb admitted on live TV to an extramarital affair and described an attempt to extort millions of dollars in blackmail.
“Christian TV took a soap opera turn,” The Dallas Morning News wrote of the episode.
In 2020, Daystar returned a $3.9 million Paycheck Protection Program loan after the CBS program “Inside Edition” investigated the company’s purchase of a Gulfstream jet used by the Lamb family for beach and golf trips.
Four years later, a panel of Ms. Lamb’s talk show regulars questioned her on air about an accusation by her son, Jonathan, that there had been a coverup of a family member’s sexual molestation of his infant daughter. Ms. Lamb denied that any abuse had occurred, and after an investigation, no charges were filed.
Joni Lynn Trammell was born on July 19, 1960, in Greenville, S.C., where she grew up. Her father, Billy Frank Trammell, worked for a local refrigeration and heating company and would evangelize with friends he made playing basketball. Her mother, Sandra (Hudson) Trammell, competed in the Miss Greenville beauty pageant.
The Lambs met at a Greenville church in 1980, when Mr. Lamb, a traveling Pentecostal preacher, was visiting. They married in 1982.
Their early investments in TV stations came fortuitously, at a time of deregulation that The Star-Telegram would describe as “market bottom.” They later made money buying and selling small broadcast towers, and selling airtime to ministries and churches.
In 2023, Ms. Lamb married Doug Weiss, a sex therapist who became a co-host on Daystar. He survives her; other survivors include her three children and several grandchildren.
On air earlier this year, Ms. Lamb told viewers that the Christian faith guaranteed a posthumous reward.
“When you pray that prayer, and you receive Jesus, he forgives your sins,” she said. “When you die, you’re going to heaven.”
Business
US consumer price inflation hits 3.8% in April, highest in nearly 3 years as Iran war fuels energy costs – The Times of India
US inflation rose in April to 3.8 per cent as surging fuel costs amid the ongoing Iran-US conflict drove up consumer prices, hitting a three-year high complicating the Federal Reserve’s path on interest rates.Data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6 per cent in April after a 0.9 per cent jump in March, the biggest monthly rise since June 2022. On an annual basis, inflation accelerated to 3.8 per cent, marking the highest year-on-year increase, since May 2023.Petrol prices in the US are now more than 28 per cent higher than a year ago, according to official data. AAA estimates show average gasoline prices have crossed $4.50 per gallon, roughly 44 per cent above year-ago levels, squeezing household budgets and raising concerns about broader economic fallout.The spike in energy prices follows the escalation of hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran earlier this year. Markets were rattled after Tehran blocked access through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global energy route that handles nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, remained relatively contained. Core CPI rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month and 2.8 per cent annually, suggesting that higher fuel costs have not yet fully spread across the wider economy.Food prices also edged higher in April. Grocery costs rose 0.7 per cent from March, led by increases in meat prices after a slight decline in the previous month.The latest inflation reading adds to uncertainty for the Federal Reserve, which had earlier been expected to begin cutting interest rates in 2026. Policymakers are now signalling caution amid fears that prolonged geopolitical tensions and elevated oil prices could trigger another wave of inflation.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the Fed for not lowering borrowing costs faster to support economic growth. Attention is now turning to Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to succeed outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose Senate confirmation is expected this week.Higher fuel costs are also beginning to weigh on corporate America. Appliance maker Whirlpool Corporation said last week that quarterly revenue fell nearly 10 per cent, warning that the war-driven economic slowdown had severely dented consumer confidence.
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