Elon Musk taunted the SEC with his tweet "naughty by nature."

The value of Tesla stock has risen over 16% in trading last Monday following Elon Musk's signing of a deal with the SEC on the weekend. The gains on Monday erased the 14% decline of Tesla stock on Friday after the lawsuit was filed late Thursday by the SEC.

The dispute between Musk and the SEC occurred after Musk tweeted on August 7 that he had secured the funding needed to take Tesla private at a price of $420 a share. However, it soon became obvious that the commitment for this funding by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia had only been made informally.  

For this reason, on Thursday the SEC filed a suit against Musk charging securities fraud. At first, Musk claimed he was going to fight against the charges, but following the rapid decline of Tesla's stock price, he reconsidered his position and settled the lawsuit on Saturday.

Recent news of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, being investigate for Insider Buying has everyone looking for how this could happen and who in the past has been prosecuted for insider trading. It’s usually hedge fund owners that get in trouble for insider trading but there have been others including Martha Stewart, George Soros, and Marylin Star. When someone purchases stock on insider knowledge not available to the public, they can be prosecuted.

Elon Musk

On August 7th of last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take the company private from Saudi sources at the price of $420/share. This public announcement caused the price of the stock to climb dramatically (8 percent) before being halted. The problem is that Musk had never made a public announcement about the company in this fashion before. And he could be in trouble if the price per share is inaccurate or all the funding is not actually secured. Look for private investors to sue Musk for his announcement if they feel they lost money because of the public announcement on Twitter.

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart got in trouble in 2004 for insider trading of ImClone stock and had to serve 5 months in prison with an additional 2 years of supervised time including some home confinement. Stewart sold ImClone stock two days prior to the stock falling 16% after an FDA decision on the biotech’s most important drug. She avoided $45,000 in loses by selling when she did. It was discovered that she acting on advise from a financial advisor who had knowledge of ImClone CEO Sam Waksal (Net Worth $70 million) selling $5 million of the stock. The reason he was selling was unknow at the time. Because she did not know the reason for the trade and did not have company information at her disposal, she was not charged with insider trading. But she obstructed justice during the investigation and was sentence for that crime.

The US and Mexico reached a deal today to replace NAFTA with a new agreement between the US and Mexico. President Trump made the announcement from the White House where he spoke with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the phone, his negotiating team was present in the US. The deal will help both farmers and manufacturers in America.

Mexico to Purchase US Farm Products

During the announcement, President Trump expressed his view that the agreement includes Mexico purchasing as much farm product from the US as it possibly could.

Replacing NAFTA

NAFTA has been eliminated and this new deal between Mexico and America will last 16 years with 6 year reviews. The Mexican Peso moved 1% higher against the US Dollar when the announcement was made. Several US based companies that could see additional contracts in Mexico also saw their shares rise during the trading day.

Negotiations with Canada Have Not Began

President Trump has held back from negotiating with Canada, preferring to complete talks with Mexico first. Canada wants to make sure any new deal benefits its middle class. Canada appears to be able to join joint talks with the US and Mexico as an additional third party. The work Mexico had to do with the US was more difficult than the inclusion of Canada will be.

The longest ever bull market run has now been reached with the S&P 500 reaching a new high this afternoon. The market index reached 2873.23, a new high for the overall top 500 companies traded on the American markets. This bull run is now over 3400 days old.I have personally been holding Direxion Daily S&P500 Bull 3X ETF (SPXL) for a couple of years in retirement accounts. They have performed well and at this time are have been much more successful than cryptocurrencies that I hold at Coinbase.

GDP Now

The market is looking at stronger overall growth as illustrated by the GDP Now forecast and the past GDP report. The Atlanta Federal Reserve board is now forecasting 4.3 percent growth in the US for the upcoming third quarter. For the second quarter GDP was reported at 4.1 percent up from a revised 2.2 percent in the first quarter. The next GDP Now forecast comes out on Friday.

The Samsung C&T Corporation recently decided to allow crypto currency payments inside Samsung stores. The program has begun its trial run in the Balkan states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Samsung mentioned it might expand this offer to other countries.

The company is currently only using the major cryptocurrencies. The formats currently accepted are Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, Ethereum, Steem, and Dash. Other cryptocurrencies might be too minor or volatile to be worth supporting.

It's Time that You Acknowledge Crypto Currency. No need to be afraid - lots of places now recognize it

FitSmallBusiness.com lists the Best Ways Your Business Can Use Cryptocurrency in 2018.

It is 2018 and by now if you are unaware what Bitcoin or LiteCoin is, your financial research is limited. Cryptocurrency came in with a bang and in recent years there has been an unprecedented surge in its market value. In a matter of 5 years, the value of cryptocurrency went from 1.6 billion US dollars to 300 billion US dollars. In 2017 alone, many businesses start to accept Bitcoin with an increase of 11.4 percent in its acceptance.

Online Purchasing

More people are now making online purchasing by using their cryptocurrency and many retail and online stores now accept payments in cryptocurrency.

Some businesses find themselves uncertain on what to do with the accumulated cryptocurrency. While in some instances the cryptocurrency is converted into cash but it takes few days and fluctuation in cryptocurrency can bring it down in monetary value. The best option is to reinvest the currency back in the business.

FitsmallBusiness.com is a digital publication that has researched extensively on how businesses can spend and reinvest the cryptocurrency they are earning.

Winklevosses' bitcoin exchange gains approval from New York to roll out services

On Monday, the top regulator of financial services in New York announced that it will allow the Gemini Trust Company bitcoin exchange, established by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, to provide trading of Zcash - the privacy centered crypto currency. This makes it the only licensed exchange for Zcash in the world.

The Financial Services State Department said that it will also allow Gemini to provide Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin trading and custody services in the near future.

"With shrewd and comprehensive regulatory supervision, the long term expansion and development of the sector will thrive" Maria Vullo, the Financial Services Superintendent, said in an interview.

According to Gemini, Zcash deposits will start to be accepted on May 19, 2018, and trading will commence a few days later.

Market capitalization for Alphabet Inc. peaked at nearly $731 billion, which translates into a share price of around $1,073 for the NASDAQ-traded security. The firm's price-to-sales ratio also outpaced the overall average of the technology segment. Investors have taken the total market capitalization and divided it by the company's sales figures to calculate this ratio.

How GOOG Stock Maintains Value

Alphabet Inc. doesn't offer a traditional dividend in the form of additional shares or any sort of cash payment. In fact, the exchange lists their dividend payout ratio as zero for the last year. The company's shares have traded over a huge range, however, which has helped to make money for investors. Over the last twelve months, GOOG stock has been trading anywhere from around $839 to around $1,187 at any given time.

Wall Street might have an ambivalent opinion of cryptocurrency, however people who trade in cryptos are taking inspiration from history.

Binance, the biggest crypto exchange in the world by trade volume, has introduced employee trading restrictions that its' boss says he copied from large investment banks.

"We permit our staff to own cryptos, because we think they will have a higher value than fiat currency in future" said Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, in a Yahoo Finance interview. "However, everyone has to be cleared if they wish to trade cryptocurrencies, and they must wait a minimum of thirty days before making any further trades". According to Zhao, these trading restrictions help staff earn more cash, because it requires them to hold for longer, even when volatility is high in the short term. "I never liked day trading" he said.

Without a doubt, the stock market has experienced some volatility in recent weeks, which is bound to make investors nervous. Here are a few tips for dealing with market volatility.

Firstly, look for potential investment opportunities. A market downturn is basically a sale on various securities. You may be able to snag shares in a valuable company for a reduced price that will only increase in value when the market rebounds.

Secondly, focus on educating yourself by reading books and articles and listening to podcasts on investing. Expanding your knowledge of how the market works and how it performed in the past can help you understand what is going on and perhaps alleviate some of your apprehensions.

If you have a mentor or someone who has offered you investing advice, consult with them. He or she has probably experienced bouts of market volatility before and should be able to offer insight into how the market works. Their words of wisdom can help guide you during these challenging times.