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The Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) share price is suffering this afternoon despite the company releasing a seemingly positive trading update.

The company’s underlying merchant sales (UMS) reached a record $2.5 billion over November and it engaged in a profitable 4-day period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

However, the market seemingly expected more from the company. Participants are bidding the Sezzle share price down 3.58% to trade at $3.77 at the time of writing.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s update from the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company.

Sezzle share price flops despite positive growth

The Sezzle share price is struggling despite the company reporting a stellar month for UMS growth.

Over the course of November, Sezzle’s UMS increased 83% on that of November 2020, bringing its annualised run rate to its new record high.

The growth was evident both online and in-store, particularly during the now-infamous weekend-long retail event.

Over the 4 days between the start of Black Friday and the end of Cyber Monday, Sezzle’s UMS in the United States and Canada was 53% higher than that of the same weekend of 2020.

Its instore UMS rose a massive 783% and that of its online merchants increased 46%.

Additionally, the number of active stores and customers using its platform rose by 84% and 60% respectively year-on-year last month.

Interestingly, the company experienced a surge in demand for hunting and fishing-related purchases.

Customers also increasingly used Sezzle to shop for food and drinks, vitamins and supplements, furniture, fine jewellery, and sporting and hobby equipment.

The company noted that the extra demand in the increasingly popular categories is likely a benefit of its push to diversify into broader verticals.

The company is now looking forward to the December holiday period. It is planning to give away more than 1,400 prizes during the season for its ‘Home 4 The Holidays’ campaign.

Right now, the Sezzle share price is 29% lower than it was this time last month. It has also fallen 39% since the start of 2021.

The post Sezzle (ASX:SZL) share price fizzles 5% despite upbeat growth figures appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Is the Sezzle (ASX:SZL) share price an obvious buy?

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is off its intraday lows but remains on course to record another decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.25% to 7,218.5 points.

Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are tumbling lower:

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)

The Afterpay share price is down 6% to $99.97. This follows a similarly severe decline in the Square share price overnight. As Square is hoping to acquire Afterpay in an all-scrip deal, the value of the takeover rises and falls with its share price. Though, that takeover hit a speed bump today. According to an announcement, the Afterpay shareholder vote on the takeover has been pushed back until early next year due to delays in gaining regulatory approval from the Bank of Spain. This may be a good thing given how the value of the offer has declined materially in recent weeks.

Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR)

The Liontown Resources share price is down 14% to $1.65. The catalyst for this has been the completion of the lithium developer’s equity raising this morning. Liontown has raised $450 million through a placement to institutional investors at a 14% discount of $1.65 per share. The proceeds from the equity raising will be used primarily for developing the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project.

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)

The Northern Star share price is down over 3% to $9.12. This follows broad weakness in the gold sector on Thursday. This weakness has led to the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index falling a sizeable 2.6%.

Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)

The Xero share price has tumbled 6% to $139.33. This appears to have been driven by a selloff in the tech sector today. It isn’t just Xero’s shares falling on Thursday, the S&P/ASX All Technology Index is down 2.6% this afternoon. This follows a very poor night of trade on the tech-focused Nasdaq index, which saw the famous index tumble 1.8% lower.

The post Why Afterpay, Liontown, Northern Star, and Xero shares are falling appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) midday update: Afterpay sinks, Woolworths bids for API
• Northern Star (ASX:NST) share price sinks despite ‘securing key infrastructure’
• Why the Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) share price is sinking 13% today
• Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price slides amid Square takeover delay
• Invested in ASX BNPL shares? These were the top 5 performers in November

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and Xero. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) share price is inching down today at $6.73, 0.3% lower than its previous closing price.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for Endeavour shares since the company listed around 6 months ago. They have traded as high as $7.36 apiece and as low as $6.07 in that time.

Not only that, but Endeavour has come off a recent high and traded down at speed these past 4 weeks. In that time, shares in the company nudged past the $7.22 mark, before trading sideways and taking a nosedive to roll into December.

What’s going on with the Endeavour share price?

Endeavour was spun off from Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) and owns prestigious drinks retail brands such as Dan Murphy’s and BWS. It also manages around 330 licensed venues around Australia.

Unlike the public, Endeavour isn’t immunised against the effects of COVID-19, given its retail and hotels exposure – two of the hardest-hit industries these past 2 years.

The effects of government-enforced lockdowns are carrying on into the back end of 2021 for Endeavour as well. For instance, in its first-quarter trading update, retail sales came in flat whereas sales in its hotels segment dropped by 10%.

Despite the challenges, e-commerce in its retail segment saw growth of 34.4% year-on-year to reflect the changes in consumer behaviour.

Investors responded positively to its trading update, pushing up the Endeavour share price. However, analysts at leading investment banks covering the company aren’t so rosy on its outlook.

The team at Credit Suisse reckons Endeavour has been on an extended run, and the company will continue seeing a higher expenditure base in years to come. The firm values Endeavour at $6.10 a share.

Morgans also thinks the Endeavour share price looks frothy at the moment. The broker has slapped a $6.95 price target on the shares which the company nudged underneath in trading today.

What about the macro-economic situation?

Aside from this, the S&P/ASX 300 Retailing Index (AXRTKD) has also been shot down from its previous high in late November, indicating weakness in the broad sector.

In fact, both have moved in almost synchronised fashion of late – the broad index has slipped 5% since its high on 19 November whereas Endeavour’s share price has lagged the index in falling 6.3% in that time.

In addition, the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (XDJ) has also come down by 5% since late November and looks remarkably similar in appearance to Endeavour and the retail index.

It appears investors are still digesting the outcomes of the Omicron COVID-19 variant while evaluating where to budget risk and return. That’s according to recent analysis from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

We see this in action when checking the S&P/ASX 200 Volatility Index (VIX), which gauges market expectations of near-term volatility by looking at the options activity on ASX equity indices.

The VIX is also dubbed the ‘fear index’ because it tends to rise as investors’ fears grow, and falls when investors are feeling more greedy.

For reference, the ASX VIX is up almost 7% in the last month and is up 35% in the last 6 months.

Endeavour share price vs Consumer Discretionary vs ASX VIX – 1 month change

Source: Google Finance. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC, used with permission

Endeavour shares are down more than 5% in the past week, and investors aren’t showing much interest. For instance, today’s trading volume is just 29% of its 4-week volume of 3,325,488 shares.

The post The Endeavour (ASX:EDV) share price slides 7% in 4 weeks. What’s going on? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Is the party over for the Endeavour (ASX:EDV) share price?
• The Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price is up 20% so far in 2021. Here’s why
• Alcohol and intelligence: 2 ASX shares on the way up

The author has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX: CPH) share price is climbing today after its Canadian subsidiary announced it has secured approval to produce more psychedelic substances.

At the time of writing, Creso Pharma shares are in the green, up 6.25% trading at 10.2 cents.

Creso Pharma is a cannabis and psychedelics company with operations in Switzerland, Canada, Colombia, Israel and Australia. In July, Creso Pharma completed the acquisition of Canadian-based psychedelics company Halucenex Life Sciences.

What did the company announce today?

Today, Creso Pharma had some positive news for the ASX market about Halucenex Life Sciences. Halucenex has secured an amendment to its dealer licence from Health Canada.

The company said this would enable it to produce psychedelic substances including psilocybin, ketamine, LSD, salvia divinorum, harmaline, salvinorin A, and MDMA.

Halucenex also plans to start growing its own botanical psilocybin and manufacturing psilocybin. And is looking to spearhead more research and development on botanic and synthetic psilocybin.

Halucenex will forward with a clinical trial investigating the use of psilocybin to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, pending regulatory approval.

Management commentary

Halucenex CEO Bill Fleming said:

We will now begin the steps towards synthetic psilocybin manufacture and botanical psilocybin growing immediately.

Both of these initiatives have the potential to deliver a number of commercial and research and development benefits and will shape future product development, clinical trials and potential licencing agreements.

Creso Pharma share price snapshot

The Creso Pharma share price has soared 62.70% over the past 12 months. This has outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) which is up 9.8% over the same period.

However, in the 2021 year to date, the company’s shares are in the red by around 43%. Creso Pharma shares are also down from the monthly high of 15 cents on 8 November.

The company’s shares reached a 52-week high of 25.5 cents on 11 December 2020.

The post Here’s why the Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price is surging 6% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price down 7% as chair stands aside amid ASIC probe
• Why the Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price is down 29% this week
• Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) share price down 6% after speeding ticket

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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It has been a subdued year for the Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) share price.

The toll road operator’s shares are currently fetching $13.81, which means they are up just 1.5% in 2021.

What now for the Transurban share price?

While the underperformance of the Transurban share price this year has been disappointing for shareholders, it could prove to be a buying opportunity for non-shareholders.

In fact, the team at Morgans believe the company’s shares are attractively priced enough to be included in the broker’s best ideas list for December.

According to the note, the broker has an add rating and $14.79 price target on the company’s shares.

Based on the current Transurban share price, this implies potential upside of 7.1% over the next 12 months.

On top of that, Morgans believes that Transurban’s dividend is poised to rebound quickly after being cut during the pandemic. The broker is forecasting a ~7% increase in FY 2022 to 39 cents per share and then a further 46% increase to 57 cents per share in FY 2023.

Based on the current Transurban share price, this implies yields of 2.8% and 4.1%, respectively.

Why does Morgans like Transurban?

Morgans likes Transurban for a number of reasons. This includes its exposure to regional population and employment growth and urbanisation, its market cap weighting, the quality of its assets, and its growth prospects.

The broker explained: “Given very high EBITDA margins, earnings are driven by traffic growth (with recovery from COVID) and toll escalation (roughly half at CPI and the remainder fixed c.4% pa).”

“We think TCL will continue to be attractive to investors given its market cap weighting (important for passive index tracking flows), the high quality of its assets, management team, balance sheet, and growth prospects. Watch for rapid recovery in DPS alongside traffic recovery and WestConnex acquisition prospects,” it concluded.

The post The Transurban (ASX:TCL) share price has gone nowhere this year. What now? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 2 more of Morgans’ best ASX share ideas for December
• Have ASX shares “gone crazy”?
• 2 high quality ASX shares for a retirement portfolio
• Analysts name 2 ASX dividend shares to buy today
• Brokers name 3 ASX dividend shares to buy now

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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You might have noticed that the Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) share price was burning hot last week — or was it?

Market watchers saw the copper developer’s share price seemingly surge a massive 4,455.5% last Friday. It increased from 4.5 cents to $2.05 in a single session. But that was just an illusion.

The company recently completed a large share consolidation, decreasing the number of shares it has outstanding at a ratio of 50:1, rounded up to the nearest full number. Thus, the value of each share increased about 50 times over.

However, the last 2 sessions have seen the company’s stock in the red.

At the time of writing, the Hot Chili share price is back to $2.02, having fallen 4.6% yesterday and another 1.46% today. This is despite no news being released by the company.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped 0.6% yesterday and is flat at the time of writing today. Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) fell 0.7% yesterday and is currently sporting a 0.13% dip.

What’s going on with the Hot Chili share price?

Hot Chili reduced its outstanding shares ahead of its plan to list on the Canadian venture stock exchange (TSXV).

By having fewer shares outstanding, the company states it has a more effective capital structure and appropriate share price ahead of its dual listing.

At the end of the consolidation, the company had about 87.5 million outstanding shares, down from approximately 4.4 billion.

As a result, the Hot Chili share price is far higher than it was a fortnight ago. Though, the company’s market capitalisation remains relatively unchanged at 176.85 million.

In October, Hot Chili said it was on track to debut on the Canadian exchange before the end of 2021. Its new share price puts it in a similar position as its TSXV-listed peers.

However, the company hasn’t released any word to explain its stock’s recent tumble. In fact, the last time the market heard price sensitive news from Hot Chili was 1 November when it provided an update on its activities over the September quarter.

Right now, the Hot Chili share price – adjusted after the consolidation – has fallen 3.8% year to date. It has also dropped 14% over the past 30 days.

The post Why is the Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) share price losing its spice lately? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Transurban (ASX:TCL) share price has gone nowhere this year. What now?
• Dubber (ASX:DUB) share price plunges 6% despite BT deal
• Could South32 (ASX:S32) shares be poised to deliver monster dividends?
• Coles (ASX:COL) hauled to court over $115 million in underpayments
• Here’s what happened with Ethereum’s (CRYPTO:ETH) record breaking November

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Dubber Corp Ltd (ASX: DUB) share price is on the backfoot this afternoon. The comes after the company announced a new partnership agreement.

During mid-afternoon trade, the cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company’s shares are down 5.6% to $3.20.

What did Dubber announce?

Investors appear unfazed by the company’s latest win, sending the Dubber share price lower.

According to its release, Dubber has been selected by BT as the default recording and conversational intelligence provider.

Based in the United Kingdom, BT (formerly British Telecom) is one of the world’s leading providers of global communications services and solutions. The company caters to customers in 180 countries.

The multi-year partnership will see BT deliver unified call recording (UCR) to a number of large organisations across the globe. Both Dubber and BT have worked together on implementing UCR services targeting major financial institutions.

While the deal opens a new revenue stream for Dubber, additional revenues will depend on the uptake from BT customers.

However, the deal has done little to help the Dubber share price today.

Dubber CEO Steve McGovern commented:

The newly released managed service offerings will enable BT to continue to demonstrate its innovation leadership. Multinational organisations can now depend on BT for the high-performing secure connections it is known for, but now also for delivering outstanding value from the content inside every conversation on BT services.

For Dubber it marks another milestone in our journey to Dub the world’s leading networks, AI-enabling every endpoint, and creating high-value technology and distribution partnerships based on our Foundation model.

Quick take on Dubber

Dubber is a cloud call recording and data capture company that provides unified communication products to its clients. The company’s technology enables voice calls to be analysed and turned into data for process improvement.

Data analytics and artificial intelligence play a crucial role in generating new business value, lowering costs, and improving customer experience. UCR allows recording and replay of any conversation, whether it be voice, video, or text. This helps businesses meet their compliance obligations and enhances employee training.

Dubber share price summary

Over the past 12 months, the Dubber share price has accelerated to post a gain of almost 90%.

Having reached a multi-year high of $4.33 in September, the company’s shares nosedived over the following month. However, they have since moved in circles.

Based on the current share price, Dubber commands a market capitalisation of roughly $953 million.

The post Dubber (ASX:DUB) share price plunges 6% despite BT deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Dubber (ASX:DUB) share price rally continues days after a quarter to remember

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Dubber Corporation. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Dubber Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) share price is having a decent day of trading so far this Thursday. At the time of writing, South32 shares are up 0.68% at $3.70 each. That looks pretty good considering that the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is in the red by 0.25% today.

$3.68 puts the South32 share price in the upper-middle of its 52-week range of $2.36 and 4.07 a share. At this pricing, South32 currently has a dividend yield of 1.78%. That’s objectively decent, but by no means impressive compared to some other ASX 200 blue chips. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) for instance, currently has a trailing yield of 5.77% on the table right now. South32’s old parent company BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) has 10.22%.

If we include the special dividend that South32 paid out last year alongside its final dividend, we get a trailing yield of 2.51%. All of South32’s recent dividends have been fully franked, so that yield grosses-up to 3.59% if we include the value of these franking credits. But that could be the tip of the iceberg for South32’s income potential, if a top ASX broker is to be believed.

Top ASX broker predicts monster South32 dividends going forward

Investment bank and broker Goldman Sachs reckons South32 shares have plenty of gas left in the tank. The diversified ASX 200 miner is currently on Goldman’s ‘conviction buy’ list, with a 12-month share price target of $4.40 a share. That implies a future potential upside of more than 20% in capital appreciation alone.

But it’s what Goldman thinks South32 has in store for its dividends, that might really excite income investors.

So in FY2021, South32 paid out 6.9 US cents per share in dividends. But Goldman estimates that FY2022 will see the miner fork out a monstrous US 30.9 cents per share. Followed by 33.4 US cents in FY23 and 34.4 US cents in FY24.

This prediction would give South32 a rough forward yield of between 12% and 13% for both FY22 and FY23 on the company’s current share price. Monster dividends indeed.

This, Goldman predicts, will be funded by strong commodity markets for aluminium and alumina in particular, as well as zinc and nickel. It does assume that South32’s current share buyback program will continue at around US$250 million per year. And that South32’s overall dividend payout ratio stays at around 70% of earnings.

I’m sure all South32 shareholders will be looking at Goldman’s predictions, and crossing their fingers they play out.

The post Could South32 (ASX:S32) shares be poised to deliver monster dividends? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
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• Why Bellevue Gold, South32, Starpharma, and Tuas shares are pushing higher
• 2 excellent ASX dividend shares to buy next week
• 3 ASX dividend shares brokers rate as buys right now

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Westpac Banking Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Supermarket giant Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) will face the Federal Court after the Fair Work Ombudsman accused it of short-changing employees more than $115 million.

The Ombudsman analysed past payouts to “thousands” of salaried staffers after Coles last year announced to the ASX it would review their pay.

That analysis found the supermarket had allegedly underpaid 7,812 employees a total of $115.2 million between the start of 2017 and 31 March 2020.

Coles staff allegedly not paid for overtime

According to the Ombudsman, the shortfall was caused by Coles paying annual salaries that were not enough to cover the significant amount of overtime these employees do.

“This court action against Coles should serve as a warning to all employers that they can face serious consequences if they do not prioritise workplace law compliance,” said Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker.

“Businesses paying annual salaries cannot take a set-and-forget approach to paying their workers. Employers must ensure wages being paid are sufficient to cover all minimum lawful entitlements for the hours their employees are actually working and the work they are actually doing.”

Insufficient annual salaries for employees covered by awards has become a “persistent issue” among many companies, according to the Ombudsman.

Incredibly, one Coles worker was allegedly short-changed $471,647 while 45 employees were underpaid more than $100,000.

Supermarket accused of not keeping proper records

Coles has already had an underpayment remediation scheme in place, but the FWO alleged it “significantly underestimated” the money owed to staff. More than $108 million still remains outstanding.

Most of the allegedly underpaid employees were those managing a department or a function within the supermarket, such as bakery, customer service, or delicatessen.

The impacted staffers were located both in regional and metropolitan stores, across all states and territories.

Coles also faces allegations that it didn’t keep proper records, including documentation relating to overtime hours.

In an announcement to the ASX on Thursday afternoon, Coles acknowledged FWO’s court case and said it had apologised to the impacted employees.

“Coles is currently reviewing the proceedings, which include issues relating to the interpretation and application of various provisions of the General Retail Industry Award 2010,” its statement read.

“To the extent that further remediation may be required, we will update the market accordingly.”

A Federal Court directions hearing in Sydney is yet to be scheduled.

FWO is pursuing penalties against Coles for breaching workplace laws, plus a court order to force it to backpay affected staff with interest.

Coles shares were trading at $17.63 on Thursday afternoon, down 4.7% for the year so far.

The post Coles (ASX:COL) hauled to court over $115 million in underpayments appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• 3 ASX dividend shares brokers rate as buys right now
• Is the Coles (ASX:COL) share price a buy in the lead up to Christmas?
• 2 ASX dividend shares with attractive yields to buy
• 2 ASX 200 dividend shares to buy
• Macquarie warns the next ASX market downturn could come as soon as February

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) hit new records in November.

The world’s number 2 crypto, with a current market cap of US$540 billion (AU$760 billion), was trading for an all-time high of US$4,856 on 10 November, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Depending on your time zone, Ethereum kicked off November trading for US$4,314 and finished the month at US$4,604. While that was down from the 10 November record, the token finished the month up 6.7%.

As at 30 November, Ethereum had gained 530% year-to-date, putting it well ahead of the 100% gain posted by Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in that same period.

What happened with Ethereum in November?

The Ethereum price, along with other leading cryptos, is getting a boost from increased institutional investor interest.

On 3 November, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) revealed that it would become the first Australian bank to offer crypto services to its customers.

Via CommBank’s app, its customers will be able to buy, sell or hold Ether, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (CRYPTO: BCH) and Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC), among other top cryptos. CBA partnered with crypto exchange Gemini and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, to launch the new crypto service.

What else is helping drive the strong performance?

Ethereum’s strong performance in November, and indeed all calendar year, is also linked with its real-world use factors, primarily involving smart contracts.

As Darren Abrams, managing director of digital currency provider Aus Merchant Investments, told The Motley Fool:

Ethereum is a platform, upon which a multitude of decentralised applications are built. These decentralised applications or ‘dapps’ as they are often referred to, are part of a revolution in the computing space known as web 3.0… While Bitcoin is central to the Web 3.0 movement, it’s use case is limited. Ether, and other smart contract blockchains, have an almost infinite number of use cases.

While crypto investors have driven up Ether’s price this year, the token failed to live up to any safe haven status at the end of the month.

When news broke of the Omicron COVID variant on 26 November, the token plummeted alongside other risk assets. Ethereum fell from US$4,550 to US$3,960, losing 13% in a single hour. Bitcoin suffered a similar fate, falling 10% in that same hour.

The post Here’s what happened with Ethereum’s (CRYPTO:ETH) record breaking November appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Australia’s first direct Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs are launching
• Here’s what happened with Bitcoin’s record-breaking November
• Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are all surging today
• Can Bitcoin edge out gold and bonds as a future store of value?
• Here’s how Bitcoin and this top altcoin are responding to the Omicron variant

The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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