Stocks

SoFi Technologies' share price closed at $18.61 on March 3, 2026, after announcing an expanded partnership that will allow its SoFiUSD stablecoin to be used as a settlement option on Mastercard's global payments network. The company also disclosed that CEO Anthony Noto purchased roughly $1 million of SOFI stock in the open market, coinciding with a premarket rise to $19.23 on March 4. SoFiUSD, issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., is fully cash-reserved and is expected to support around-the-clock settlement for SoFi's card transactions.

On 4 March 2026, White House Digital Asset Advisor Patrick Witt publicly rejected JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's claim that yield-bearing stablecoins operate like bank deposits, pointing to strict reserve rules under the 2025 GENIUS Act. The clash has complicated negotiations over the CLARITY Act, while Coinbase offers a 3.5% return on USDC that traditional banks struggle to match.

Dycom Industries, Bath & Body Works, and Abercrombie & Fitch all posted fourth‑quarter results that came in ahead of analyst expectations, with revenue and EPS generally beating forecasts. Dycom reported record contract revenue and EPS, Bath & Body Works delivered higher‑than‑guided profitability despite slightly lower sales, and Abercrombie achieved record quarterly and full‑year net sales. Each company also issued full‑year outlooks, with Dycom and Abercrombie projecting continued growth and Bath & Body Works guiding to lower sales but resilient earnings.

Crypto-linked stocks led by MicroStrategy (MSTR) surged in pre-market trading on March 4, 2026, as Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed the $71,000 mark. With msx.com reporting strong decentralized RWA trading volume and MSTR expanding its holdings to 720,737 BTC, the sector is showing renewed resilience despite recent geopolitical volatility. Discover the key drivers behind today’s crypto-equity rally.

In a Q4 2025 portfolio update, Harvard's $57 billion endowment reportedly sold around $72 million of its Bitcoin ETF holdings and opened an $86.8 million position in the iShares Ethereum Trust. The shift lifts combined BTC and ETH ETF exposure to $352.6 million and comes as Bitcoin trades near $69,300 and Ethereum hovers just above $2,000 after recent volatility.

During the latest trading session, South Korea's KOSPI index tumbled by more than 12% after already losing 7% the previous day, marking its steepest downturn since 2008. Trading in both KOSPI and Kosdaq was briefly halted by circuit breakers as investors reacted to war-related tensions in Iran and the Middle East, profit-taking, and concerns over the high energy costs of AI data centers. Global equity indices in Japan and the United States also faced volatility, while crypto markets stayed relatively flat, with Bitcoin edging up 0.6% and total market capitalization hovering around $2.3 trillion.

On Wednesday, South Korea's Kospi and Kosdaq indexes each sank more than 10% in morning trading, forcing the Korean Stock Exchange to trigger circuit breakers and halt trading. Regional equity markets across Japan, Hong Kong, China and Thailand also dropped sharply, while surging oil prices and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East added to investor risk aversion. Crypto markets have fallen this year but showed a milder intraday reaction compared with global stocks.

On Tuesday, Ark Invest led by Cathie Wood purchased about $4.09 million in Coinbase shares and roughly $12.06 million in Robinhood shares through its ETFs. The trades came as both COIN and HOOD declined alongside broader U.S. equity indices amid heightened geopolitical tensions.

At the Bitcoin Investor Week Conference in New York in February, former Trump crypto advisor David Bailey argued that the U.S. government must go further than simply supporting Bitcoin in words. He highlighted that, despite Trump signing an executive order for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in March 2025 and the U.S. holding 378,372 BTC worth about $22.48 billion, meaningful policy action has lagged. Bailey added that Bitcoin will ultimately succeed with or without U.S. help, but real progress requires political capital and broader voter ownership of BTC.

As of March 4, 2026, U.S. lawmakers remain divided over whether stablecoin issuers and crypto platforms may provide yield-style incentives to users, leaving the CLARITY Act stuck in the Senate after a strong bipartisan vote in the House. Representative French Hill is urging senators to accept the House-approved language, while traders on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket are still assigning notable odds that the bill will be enacted in 2026.