Is A Recession Imminent With The USA Economy Shrinking?

TODAY on Youtube shows that for the first time since the start of the pandemic, there are now signs that the economy is shrinking. Factors for the 1.4% contraction include the war in Ukraine and the supply chain crisis really worsening a lot in China. NBC’s Tom Costello reports for TODAY.

Bitcoin price decreased over the year

Bitcoin price was back at over $40K recently (now it is below $40K) as more and more countries seem to "embrace cryptocurrency."

Over the period of a year, the Bitcoin price decreased significantly.

More countries are certainly embracing cryptocurrency these days.

Fresh signs show interested investors and greater adoption by nations from Africa to Central and South America.

Bitcoin (BTC) really came back above $40,000 on Thursday, climbing alongside some USA stocks.

There has been some positive news for Bitcoin. There is the potential sovereign adoption in Africa, Cuba's allowing licensed exchanges and Mexico's gradual move towards greater adoption.

The Central African Republic has recently become the second nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender and official currency.

El Salvador took the same step last year to make it official currency.

The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) announced that it will issue licenses for virtual asset service providers. The license will really be available to individuals or organizations both Cuban and foreign.

The Panamanian Legislative Assembly passed a bill regulating crypto.

Brazil also passed a law on Wednesday to regulate cryptocurrencies.

So-called "whale" [large] holdings increased dramatically last September. This led to a significant increase in price in November.

The balance held by addresses with few BTC has also increased a lot.

Bitcoin price has increased a lot since it began. In the 14 years since its inception, it has climbed exponentially, while only starting from US$0.08.

It seems that there are really currently 19,025,143 bitcoins in existence. This number changes about every 10 minutes when new blocks are mined. Right now, each new block adds 6.25 bitcoins into circulation.

Amazon’s huge drop in share price

Amazon company sure had a big decrease in stock price in April.

April has been an unfortunate month for certain tech companies. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Tesla set to lose a combined trillion dollars.

Some of the largest companies have come under heavy pressure in April amid a difficult earnings season and concerns over the Federal Reserve policy.

Amazon.com Inc. shares certainly collapsed on Friday. It was a huge loss in market value.

The Amazon stock price decreased 14% in its biggest one-day drop since July 2006. Shares closed at their lowest level since June 2020.

Over a period of one year (ending April 29, 2022), the Amazon stock price decreased 26%.

The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 4.5% on Friday, bringing its April decline to 13%, certainly its biggest one-month drop since October 2008.

Amazon stock price certainly fell 24% for the month, its biggest one-month percentage drop since November 2008.

Alphabet stock price dropped 18% in April, also its worst since November 2008.

Among other big company names, Apple Inc. fell 9.7% for April, its biggest one-month drop since September 2020.

Microsoft Corp. stock price fell 10% in April, its worst one-month decline since January 2015 even after it reported results that were seen as so-called strong.

Meta Platforms Inc. stock price fell 9.8% in April.

In other related news:

- Amazon workers at NYC warehouse vote to unionize

- April 30, 2022 - Amazon workers won’t get paid for Covid leave anymore

- Amazon is cutting paid time off for front-line USA workers who test positive for Covid-19, effective Monday.

- All USA-based Amazon workers who test positive for Covid-19 will now get up to five days of excused, unpaid leave, the company told workers in a notice sent Saturday.

Twitter tries to explain massive changes in follower numbers

CNBC Television on Youtube shows that CNBC's Shep Smith reports on fluctuations in follower numbers in some high-profile Twitter accounts. 

The Guardian writes: What better owner for Twitter than Elon Musk, master of the ill-advised tweet?

CNBC writes: Elon Musk will be the most indebted CEO in America if the Twitter deal goes through

Two-thirds of Elon Musk's financing for the $44 billion deal to take Twitter private will have to come out of his own pocket.

France 24 writes: Elon Musk's criticism of Twitter staff sparks backlash

The Washington Post: Elon Musk elevated criticism of Twitter executives

The New York Times: Opinion - Elon Musk Got Twitter Because He Gets Twitter

Twitter sold to Elon Musk for $44B despite initial rejections

Global News shows the Elon Musk news.

First, it was PayPal, then it was electric cars, and then space. Now, Elon Musk's next frontier is social media. 

Despite initially thwarting a hostile takeover from the world's richest man, Twitter has now struck a $44-billion deal with the CEO and co-founder of both Tesla and SpaceX. 

He will become the social media giant's sole owner. 

Abigail Bimman explains Musk's promises to make the platform "better than ever," and how his controversial reputation raises questions on what that could mean.

Twitter is really an American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read those that are publicly available. Users interact with Twitter through browser or mobile frontend software, or programmatically via its so-called APIs. Prior to April 2020, services were accessible via SMS. The service is provided by Twitter, Inc., a corporation based in San Francisco, California, and has more than 25 offices around the whole world. So-called Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but the limit was doubled to 280 for non-CJK languages in November 2017. Audio and video tweets remain limited to 140 seconds for most accounts.

Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 and launched in July of that year. By 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day, and the service handled an average of many 1.6 billion search queries per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet". By the start of 2019, Twitter had more than 330 million monthly active users. In practice, the vast majority of tweets are written by a minority of users.

On April 25, 2022, the Twitter board of directors certainly agreed to a big $44 billion buyout by Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, potentially making it one of the biggest deals to turn a company private.

Twitter current Stock price: TWTR (NYSE) US$49.11 -  Apr 28, 4:02 p.m. EDT

It seems that now Twitter is adding an "edit button." Until this year, Twitter hasn't allowed its users to edit tweets.

Twitter has really announced that it's working to allow users to edit their tweets after posting them. The idea is that you'll be able to fix any typos or errors in a tweet without sacrificing any replies, retweets, or likes it's already really accrued.

Canada: New Proof of Vaccination Requirements by Province

COVID-19-related restrictions continue to evolve.

Below, find each province’s current approach to proof of vaccination requirements.

Only provinces that have officially announced a proof of vaccination system are on this list. Currently, there are no proof of vaccination requirements in Northwest Territories or Nunavut.

The following information is from:

https://www.retailcouncil.org/coronavirus-info-for-retailers/vaccination-requirements-by-province/

British Columbia

As of April 8, 2021, the proof of vaccination requirement has ended.

Alberta

Alberta has ended its proof of vaccination requirement.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan has ended its Proof of Vaccination program.

Manitoba

As of March 1, Manitoba no longer has a proof of vaccination requirement as part of its Health Orders.

Ontario

Effective March 1, 2022 Ontario no longer requires businesses and organizations to check for proof of vaccination.

Quebec

Since March 12, 2022, the vaccination passport is no longer required in Quebec.

New Brunswick

Effective Monday, February 28, 2022, organizations and businesses were no longer be required to enforce proof of vaccination for entry in New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

As of February 28, 2022, proof of full vaccination is no longer required for Nova Scotian businesses.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Effective March 14, 2022, businesses and organizations are no longer required to check a person’s COVID-19 vaccination record for access to their venue or space. However, the province’s COVID-19 Vaccine Regulations may still apply to workers. Learn more about that program here.

Prince Edward Island

As of February 28, 2022, the PEI Vax Pass Program has been discontinued. Prince Edward Island no longer requires patrons to provide proof of vaccination to access certain discretionary businesses and events within the province.

Yukon

Yukon businesses can request that people show proof of vaccination to enter spaces, though its optional. More info can be found here.

International Space Station: Russia threatens to end cooperation

Al Jazeera English on Youtube shows that Russia says it will end cooperation with the International Space Station. Head of Russia's space agency says organization will no longer work with NASA or European partners.

The purpose of this space station is important. The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have been realised. In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes.

Scientific research on the International Space Station is important, indeed. The ISS really provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where important studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers.