1. ‘Buy now pay later’ won’t kill credit cards

ANZ’s CEO says the boom ‘buy now pay later’ businesses will not kill off credit cards. Shayne Elliott isn’t buying the buy now, pay later ‘hype’ and says credit cards won’t be going away any time soon. The SMH’s Clancy Yeates today writes that Mr Elliott sees a massive disruption looming in banking, and the likes of Afterpay and Zip have a place in the market. But the ‘buy now pay later’  boom will not cancel credit cards out of our lives in the future. He said: “I think the idea that buy now, pay later is somehow stealing business from cards is wildly exaggerated.” And he’s surprised why these companies aren’t forced to do credit checks on the user of their services, like other lenders. This is a pretty good question.

2. Bitcoin surged last week

Bitcoin surged last week as the American await their $1400 cheques from the US President. The bitcoin price climbed 7% to a record high of $US61,556 over the weekend, with the price up 22% over the past week.  It comes as President Joe Biden’s stimulus cheques are sent out to most Americans and the US central bank gets set to throw more at the US economy to stop interest rates from rising. Uncertainty about inflation and interest rates, along with the expectation that an economic boom is coming, is helping bitcoin’s price rise. Experts predict the price of bitcoin could hit $100,000 by year’s end. However, that’s nothing more than a guess often made by speculators already holding bitcoin.

3. Facebook puts on a better face

Facebook has stopped playing hardball with the Morrison Government and Australian media outlets and deals to pay for local content it uses could be close. Facebook is closer to striking deals with some of Australia’s largest media companies, after conceding it could change or remove clauses in its proposed contracts that would allow the tech giant to walk away from any deals. Facebook has been trying to cut deals with News Corp, The Guardian, the ABC and Nine Entertainment for use of their news articles on its platform for several weeks to avoid being punished under new media bargaining laws. These clauses that allow Facebook to walk away from any deals made have been the sticking point in negotiations but industry sources tip the tech giant will soon play ball, which will be good news for Facebook fans.

4. Bigfoot bounty reaches $2.7 million

The reward for capturing Bigfoot in the US state of Oklahoma has now reached almost US$2.1 million ($2.7 million). Oklahoma State Representative Justin Humphrey said he is working with tourism officials to set rules for those who want to search for Bigfoot in the state's southeast, including that Bigfoot must be captured unharmed.

5. Dow and S&P end the week at record highs

Both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at new record highs on Friday last week. The Dow was up 4.07% for the week to 32,778.64 while the S&P rose 2.64% throughout last week. The Nasdaq fell on Friday but closed up 3.09% for the week.