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(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one session after it had ended the two-day slide in which it had plummeted almost 80 points or 3.2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,270-point plateau although it may tick higher on Friday.

Newell Brands NWL is a consumer goods firm with a diverse portfolio. The stock had been trending pretty heavily in the wrong direction over the last several years. But it has shown signs of life during the coronavirus comeback.

(RTTNews) - Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NVAX)) gained over 7% in after-hours trading Thursday after the biotechnology company announced that it will start a Phase 3 trial of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Brazilian development bank BNDES is asking other JBS SA investors to support a class action suit against the meatpacker's executives and controlling shareholders seeking compensation for damages caused by a bribery scheme, according to a securities filing by JBS on Wednesday.

Shares of investment bank Goldman Sachs GS rose today, and were up over 4% in midday trading after UBS analyst Brennan Hawken upgraded the stock to buy from neutral; he also raised his price target to $245 from $220 per share.

In this week's episode of Industry Focus: Financials, host Jason Moser and Fool.com contributor Matt Frankel, CFP, take a closer look at AppFolio (NASDAQ: APPF), a software-as-a-service company that offers a subscription-based solution for the property management industry. Plus,

Australian shares are likely to open marginally higher on Friday, with mining stocks seen boosting the benchmark as iron ore prices rose, while a fall in infections in Victoria improved hopes that restrictions will be eased sooner than expected.

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LONDON/NEW YORK/MILAN/HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - Corona Capital is a daily column updated throughout the day by Breakingviews columnists around the world with short, sharp pandemic-related insights.

NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Buffett effect is mounting a comeback. The Sage of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway is helping local U.S. TV network operator E.W. Scripps finance its $2.7 billion takeover of a rival. As soon as the deal was unveiled on Thursday, Scrip

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) wants to do its part to tackle student debt, so beginning in 2021, Google will match student loans up to $2,500 per employee per year as a company benefit. John Casey, Google's director of global benefits, announced this plan in an interna

A new bipartisan-backed bill aims to clarify investment contract assets or digital tokens sold as part of a securities offering are separate and distinct commodities, not securities. 

• The legislation introduced by Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) would amend existing securities laws to exclude tokens from the definition of a security.
• Speaking to CoinDesk, Amy Davine Kim, chief policy officer for the Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) noted if a company issues a token, and there is an investment contract there, it has to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to qualify for an exemption.
• The token that’s the object or the subject of that investment contract itself isn’t necessarily a security, Kim said.
• According to a press statement on Rep. Emmer’s website, the bill would allow companies in compliance with securities registration requirements or have qualified for an exemption to “distribute their assets to the public without additional regulatory uncertainty.”
• It goes on to state that digital tokens associated with security offerings “are in fact, and always were, commodities.”
• The bill has bipartisan support, Kim said, adding that the bill would make law a legal standard argument made in an amicus brief submitted by the CDC following the SEC injunction against messaging app Telegram, in which Telegram was accused of violating securities law when it issued its native “gram” token in 2018.  
• The new legislation would help to bring clarity to this area of the industry that’s in desperate need of it, Kim said.
• Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Texas), who joined Rep. Emmer in introducing the legislation, proposed a separate bill Thursday that could bring digital currency exchanges under a single federal framework. 

See also: Making Sense of the SEC’s Case Against Telegram

Read the full draft of the bill below: 

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Costco Wholesale Corp beat estimates for quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, as consumers staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic bought more fresh produce, appliances and gardening and sporting goods.

What happened Shares of liquified natural gas transportation company Golar LNG (NASDAQ: GLNG)  closed the session near the low point of the day, down 32%. 

Hong Kong police arrested prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong on Thursday for participating in an unauthorised assembly in October 2019 and violating the city's anti-mask law, according to a post on his official Twitter account.

Wall Street rallied in a rocky session on Thursday as beaten-down technology shares gained favor after data showing a surge in the sale of new homes revived faith in the economic recovery even as U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly.

Chile´s top environmental regulator on Thursday filed charges against state energy company ENAP over allegations its Quintero port facilities emitted air pollution that may have sickened hundreds during an incident in 2018.

Bitcoin had a small rally Thursday. Meanwhile, the ether options market is giving some investors protection from decentralized finance downsides.

• Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $10,653 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. EDT). Gaining 3.3% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $10,135-$10,736.
• BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians.

Bitcoin’s price made gains Thursday as the world’s oldest cryptocurrency began a modest rally at around 15:00 UTC (11 a.m. EDT). It jumped $343 to as high as $10,736 in just two hours on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. Bitcoin was changing hands at $10,653 at press time. 

Thursday’s bitcoin price pop came after several days of stagnation followed by a quick drop in tandem with equities Wednesday. 

Related: Bitcoin Options Open Interest Hits Record High in Expiry Week

George Clayton, partner at Cryptanalysis Capital, maintains that the average cryptocurrency holder is a risk-oriented trader and that quantitative strategies kept bitcoin’s price near at $10,400 in the days leading up to Wednesday’s decline. 

“If volumes are low, traders and algorithms are in charge,” Clayton said. “This last move down was on pretty low volume and coincided with the sell-off in stocks.” 

Momentum in the crypto market had been absent this week prior to bitcoin’s rise Thursday, according to Denis Vinokourov, head of research for the digital assets prime broker Bequant. “There has been a distinct lack of aggressive liquidations and the actual bitcoin futures curve has been flat for much of the month,” he said. 

Liquidation volume in September on derivatives exchange BitMEX has fallen. Liquidations, the crypto equivalent of margin calls, often exacerbate price movements as long or short traders have their positions wiped out.

Related: First Mover: Federal Reserve, Congress Play Game of Chicken Over Stimulus as Market Lurches

Rupert Douglas, head of institutional sales at crypto brokerage Koine, says he still has some concerns that investors will quickly sell off crypto should traditional markets take another nosedive. “Risks are still to the downside,” he said.

Read More: Strengthening US Dollar Could Bring Further Downside for Bitcoin

Bitcoin has performed poorly compared to equities thus far in September, down 10.7% while the S&P 500 is in the red 7.9%. Major stock indexes in Europe and Asia are also treading below 0% month-to-date.

Bequant’s Vinokourov points to decentralized finance, or DeFi, as contributing to the bitcoin market’s lack of overall momentum. “It appears that leverage flow has already been sucked out and quietly exited or transitioned to other parts of the crypto ecosystem, namely DeFi,” he said. 

Despite this, Vinokourov sees positive sentiment towards bitcoin’s use in DeFi-based yield generation to eke out profits in slow market cycles. “The use of bitcoin on the Ethereum network remains on a strong uptrend, with over 100,000 BTC now locked,” he noted.

Ether options hedging DeFi

Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Thursday, trading around $346 and climbing 5.5% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT). 

Read More: Uniswap Users Have Claimed $560M-Worth of UNI Tokens in a Week

The ether options market for October expiration seems to favor the cryptocurrency being priced below $360. Traders are betting there is a 50% chance of ether trading over $340 at next month’s expiration, a 40% chance of it priced over $360, and just a 24% chance of it being over $400 according to data aggregator Skew.

Vishal Shah, an options trader and founder of derivatives exchange Alpha5, said this market behavior signals smart investors are likely hedged on DeFi’s risks. 

“This is a protective premium against DeFi total value locked; a lot of people have ETH locked up in pools,” he said. “The larger players definitely are hedged, plus this can make offering DeFi structured products a lot easier [such as one with a] USD-yield with protective puts against the pool.”

Other markets

Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mostly in the green Thursday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT):

• chainlink (LINK) + 20.4%
• orchid (OXT) + 9.7%
• 0x (ZRX) + 7.9%

One notable loser as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT):

• dogecoin (DOGE) – 1%

Read More: Ex-Pantera Partner’s New Crypto Fund Is ‘Not for the Faint of Heart’

Equities:

• Asia’s Nikkei 225 closed in the red 1.1% as traders in Tokyo eyed an equities sell-off in the United States amid a contentious presidential election.
• Europe’s FTSE 100 ended the day slipping 1.3% as a rise in coronavirus cases on the continent dampened sentiment.
• In the United States the S&P 500 slipped 0.10% on a volatile trading day as unemployment numbers declined but were higher than forecasted.

Commodities:

• Oil was up 1.5%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $40.22.
• Gold was in the green 0.32% and at $1,869 as of press time.

Treasurys:

• U.S. Treasury bond yields fell Thursday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 2-year, dipping to 0.137 and in the red 5.4%.

Related Stories

• Strengthening US Dollar Could Bring Further Downside for Bitcoin
• Bitcoin in Africa: FastBitcoins Partners With Flexepin to Expand Global Footprint

The tech sector had a volatile afternoon, resulting in a session of modest gains for major indexes. The Dow finished the day 50 points higher, as investors pored over a plethora of economic data, including new home sales and jobless claims. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasda

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) described its holiday shopping season preparations in a press release today, noting its intention to hire more workers and its plans for allocating labor to match new shopping patterns. The retailer also noted the safety measures it's using during