Bitcoin pushes past $47,000 to new record highs – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news as bitcoin extends its gains following a big investment from TeslaTesla buys $1.5bn in bitcoin, pushing price to new highTesla should stick to what it’s good at – and that isn’t bitcoin 7.59am GMT Oil prices are at their highest level in 13 months, and both Brent crude – the global benchmark – and WTI are on their longest winning streak since January 2019. Brent futures are on their seventh session of gains, with prices currently up nearly 0.9% at about $61.10. Should the Biden-led government fast-track the spending programme that should spark higher demand for the energy in the months ahead. 7.38am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.Bitcoin enthusiasts are celebrating a fresh jump in the cryptocurrency’s value. It rose further overnight after an initial surge on Monday, when Tesla disclosed its own $1.5m investment in bitcoin and said it is likely to start accepting it as payment for its cars in the future. Companies are holding big cash piles in their bank account, which is not earning them much at all. These cash rich companies do not know what they should do with their cash. Hence a new trend could be emerging, which has been put in motion by Tesla. It is true that Tesla’s investment in Bitcoin is tiny compared to its market cap or its balance sheet. But the important point to pay attention to here is if other cash rich companies like Apple, Microsoft, Facebook also begin to invest their cash in Bitcoin as an alternative investment. European Opening Calls:#FTSE 6518 -0.09%#DAX 14050 -0.07%#CAC 5687 +0.01%#AEX 657 +0.05%#MIB 23449 +0.10%#IBEX 8215 -0.05%#OMX 2003 +0.01%#STOXX 3668 +0.06%#IGOpeningCall Continue reading…
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