Wall Street Bulls Roar – Bitcoin ‘Halving’ is Fast Approaching
Wall Street's dream run resumes, with all three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Wednesday.
Investor sentiment is increasingly favourable towards anticipated rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year, with expectations potentially being met as soon as June.
Some investors even speculate that such action could occur at the next week's meeting.
Last week, the Federal Reserve remained consistent with its stance, maintaining its outlook for three rate cuts this year during its policy meeting.
This position has been reaffirmed by central bank officials' comments throughout this week.
Traders perceive a 70.4% likelihood that the Federal Reserve will commence its easing cycle in June.
However, Thursday may witness increased anticipatory trading as it marks the final trading day of the first quarter.
Investors are awaiting the latest U.S. consumer spending data (GDP) before Friday's release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE), the Fed's preferred measure of inflation.
Both bond and stock markets will be closed for Good Friday.
Later in the day, Fed Board Governor Christopher Waller is expected to speak at the Economic Club of New York.
At the close of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged +477.75 points, or +1.2%, reaching 39,760.08.
The gains represented the Dow's largest daily percentage increase since December 13.
The blue-chip index is now less than 1% away from reaching the historic milestone of breaking the 40,000 level for the first time.
The broad-based Standard & Poor's 500 Index surged by +44.91 points, or +0.9%, reaching 5,248.49, setting a new closing record. It is on course for a fifth consecutive winning month, marking its biggest first-quarter percentage gain since 2019.
Meanwhile, the rich-tech Nasdaq Composite Index gained +83.82 points, or +0.5%, to 16,399.52, just shy of its record high.
Eleven of the major S&P sectors saw gains, with rate-sensitive utilities and real estate leading the way, climbing +2.75% and +2.42%, respectively.
Among the "Magnificent Seven" tech companies, Alphabet climbed by +0.2%, Amazon rose by +0.9%, Meta fell by -0.4 %, Tesla added +1.2%, Microsoft lost -0.1%, Apple gained +2.1%, and Nvidia experienced its second consecutive loss after its remarkable 91% surge year-to-date.
The stock slumped by 2.5%, possibly due to some investors locking in profits as they closed their books for the year's first quarter.
Trump Media & Technology Group shares surged by +14.2% following its impressive Nasdaq debut. Enthusiastic supporters of former President Donald Trump fueled the rise.
Meanwhile, GameStop shares plunged by -15% after the company reported a profit for the latest quarter but also revealed a decrease in revenue compared to the previous year.
In contrast, Robinhood Markets, Inc. surged by +3.7% following its inaugural credit card launch for subscription-paying Gold members and other new product offerings.
In the U.S. government bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other economy-dictating loans, finished at 4.21%, while the policy-sensitive two-year yield, which tends to reflect the market expectations of future moves by the Fed, closed at 4.61%.
In the crypto universe, despite some bearish speculation, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency price, remains resilient, with a modest pullback but holding above the US$69,000 threshold.
Market activity is increasing, fuelled by rumours suggesting that Morgan Stanley might soon approve Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on their platform.
However, traders are now preparing for the highly anticipated “halving” of block rewards.
The last Bitcoin halving occurred on May 11, 2020; the next one is expected in April 2024.
The Bitcoin halving, also known as "the halvening," is a highly anticipated event that occurs roughly every four years.
April's halving will be the fourth in Bitcoin's history.
During this event, the miners' reward for adding new blocks to the blockchain is halved.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, changed hands within an intraday range of US$68,428.00 to US$71,670.00 and last at US$69,555.00.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain by cryptocurrency market capitalization, traded within a daily range of US$3,460.00 to US$3,665.00 before closing at US$3,504.00.
Precious metals were firmer, with spot gold closing at $2,189.00 per ounce and silver at $24.54.
Energy market prices rebounded, with the global benchmark Brent crude oil priced at $85.70 per barrel, while the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate settled at $81.45.
The U.S. Dollar Index (U.S. DXY), gauging the greenback's strength against six major foreign currencies in the forex market, increased to 104.40.
Meanwhile, the Eurodollar was 1.0815, and the British pound finished at 1.2622. The Japanese yen ended at 151.36, while the Australian dollar was at 0.6522.
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