Caroline Hepker

Asia trading.

Looking at stock futures for Europe, we're also expecting a lower open here.

We're down by two tenths of one percent.

The Bloomberg dollar spot index is slightly firmer.

The pound and the euro are both lower this morning ahead of central bank rate decisions.

Those are the markets.

I'm Caroline Hepka.

And this is Bloomberg.

And I'm Caroline Hepker.

Now, almost half a trillion dollars has been wiped off cryptocurrencies in less than a week as the sell-off accelerated.

Bitcoin dropped as much as 7%, falling to just under $73,000 on Tuesday, its lowest level since early November.

Famed big short investor Michael Burry is now warning that the plunge could deepen into a self-reinforcing death spiral, in his words, inflicting lasting damage on companies that have spent the past year stockpiling the token.

Now, UBS has reported stronger than expected fourth quarter results with net income of $1.2 billion that beat estimates.

The Swiss lender also announced a $3 billion share buyback.

While the bank said that that figure could grow across the year, client inflows for its wealth management unit fell short of expectations.

Here is CEO Sergio Amotti.

UBS CEO Sergio Amorti there speaking.

As the bank broadly maintained its previously signalled financial targets for 2028 in terms of the investor response, UBS shares in European trading opened down as much as 1.2%.

Lastly, London's Metropolitan Police have started a criminal probe into politician Peter Mandelson over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Authorities are investigating the former minister over alleged misconduct in public office.