S&P500 Gains to Record as Bitcoin Hits a Monthly Low at $55.5K

Written by OspreyFX News Team

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Key Takeaways

S&P500 gains 0.3% on Thursday and hits a fresh all-time high along with the Nasdaq
Bitcoin price dips to a monthly low of $55,500 as crypto market cap falls 5%

What’s on Focus in the Markets?

US stocks wavered during the session on Thursday but late buying momentum erased intraday losses. As a result, the S&P500 and the Nasdaq Composite finished the day in the green and even set all-time records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, remained under the flatline and closed lower on the day.

Strong unemployment data helped lift the market sentiment. In signs of continuing labor-market recovery, the Labor Department said 268,000 people filed for jobless claims last week. In other words, the number of first-time filings for unemployment benefits is slowly reverting to pre-pandemic levels.

In addition, the earnings season has so far delivered largely better-than-expected results for American corporations. With this in mind, despite the relatively choppy performance for stocks over the past two weeks, investors are still optimistic.

What’s the Outlook for Financial Markets?

Against this backdrop, several major concerns are threatening to cloud the positive outlook for the financial markets. First, the persistent climb in consumer prices has challenged the Federal Reserve’s view that inflation is temporary.

To cool down higher prices, the US central bank this month is expected to start reducing its extraordinary monetary support. In more detail, Fed officials agreed to scale down bond purchases by $15 billion in November and December.

Further, some major companies have been hit by supply-chain disruptions and rising costs for production and operations. To this end, holiday-quarter earnings reports could deliver unexpected financial results for the best and brightest in the US economy.

What’s the Latest News on Bitcoin?

Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency in the market, extended its decline for a fifth-straight day on Thursday. More precisely, the price of bitcoin dipped 5% to reach a monthly low of $55,500 per coin. The orange token has slipped farther from its record high as the entire crypto market cap dropped 5% yesterday.

Bitcoin, specifically, declined about 20% from its record of $69,000 to its lowest point for November. Presently, the leading digital asset is trading near $56,500 as traders are still struggling to push the price back on its upward trajectory.

Moreover, bitcoin is on track to finish the week in the red by about 12%. This could be the first losing week in almost two months.

Ether, on the other hand, also slipped by about 5% on Thursday. The Ethereum token has declined roughly 16% from its record high of $4,860 to current market price of $4,060.

Solana’s SOL coin, the token that took the world by storm this year, is down about 12% this week and it’s currently trading near $200 apiece.