Benzinga | Jan 31, 2022 05:06AM EST

Justin Bieber And Bored Ape NFT, Joe Rogan's Response, Elon Musk On Canada Protests, Bitcoin Heading Into Lunar New Year, Fed Rate Hike Prediction: 5 Headlines You May Have Missed From This Weekend

Heading into a new trading week, here is a quick roundup of the top five stories from the technology, corporate and cryptocurrency sectors that investors would not want to miss out on from the weekend.

1. Justin Bieber's 'Bored Ape' NFT Purchase: Canadian singer Justin Bieber has bought a Bored Ape Yacht Club non fungible token (NFT) for 500 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) -- the equivalent of $1.3 million, it was reported on Saturday.

The OpenSea account believed to be owned by the Grammy award-winning artist already owns over 100 NFTs, including the recent purchases of well-known NFT projects such as Doodles, CloneX and World of Women.

2. Elon Musk Continues Canada Criticism Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has intensified his criticism of the Canadian government for its COVID-19 vaccine mandate that requires truck drivers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated. Last week, Musk had expressed his support for the Canadian truckers who were protesting the federal government vaccine mandate.

3. Joe Rogan Addresses Spotify Controversy: Responding to the controversy surrounding COVID-related content on his Spotify Technology SA's (NYSE:SPOT) podcast, Joe Rogan said he will try harder to get "more experts with differing opinions" on his show. Rogan's comments come just hours after Spotify said it plans to put a COVID-19 disclaimer on his podcast.

4. Bitcoin Subdued Due To Lunar New Year Holidays Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and other major cryptocurrencies are expected to trade subdued due to the Lunar New Year holidays this week in some Asian markets. Edward Moya, a senior market analyst with OANDA, said that Bitcoin is "embracing Wall Street's risk-on mood as it continues to form a base."

5. Goldman Sachs Predicts Fed Rate Hikes: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) economists led by Jan Hatzius have now joined JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank analysts in predicting five interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year, rather than the four rate hikes projected by the economists previously. The Fed said last week it was likely to hike interest rates in March.

What Else: Among other stories from the weekend, investors would want to check out the EV week in review, the only gainer among the top billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index this year and why Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) continues to resist calls to list Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB).

Meanwhile, "Spider-Man: No Way Out" has topped the U.S. box office chart for the sixth time in seven weeks.