Stocks head lower as Bitcoin surges to new $106,000 record


The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks were lower on Monday as bitcoin (BTC-USD) surged to a new record high of $106,000.

The cryptocurrency‘s price rise has rallied by more than 50% since Donald Trump’s US election victory on 5 November, thanks to the incoming administration being more friendly towards crypto than the Biden White House.

Last week, Trump pledged to “do something great with crypto”, to avoid other countries getting ahead of the US on the issue.

Bitcoin has risen around 4.6% since Friday night, hitting $106,533, and extending its rise over the $100,000 mark.

“The bitcoin rally since the election has been parabolic and the FOMO — or fear of missing out — rally is gathering momentum,” Peter McGuire from trading platform XM.com told the BBC.

“Many investors believe $120,000 is achievable by the end of the year and then in 2025 there’s talk of greater than $150,000 by mid-year”.

Elsewhere, Monday’s trading session in London includes the debut of production company Canal+, which has been spun off from parent business Vivendi (VIV.PA). However its shares will not be eligible for the FTSE 100 index.

  • London’s benchmark index was 0.2% lower in early trade.

  • Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) dipped 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris headed 0.6% into the red.

  • The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was down 0.2%.

  • Wall Street is set for a positive start as S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were all in the green.

  • The pound was 0.2% up against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) at 1.2645.

  • Key companies reporting this week: Nike (NKE), Micron (MU), Accenture (ACN), FedEx (FDX) and Birkenstock (BIRK).

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  • Bitcoin hits new record of $106,000

    Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has surged to a new record high of $106,000. The cryptocurrency’s price rise has rallied by more than 50% since Donald Trump’s US election victory on 5 November thanks to the incoming administration being more friendly towards crypto than the Biden White House.

    Last week, Trump pledged to “do something great with crypto”, to avoid other countries getting ahead of the US on the issue.

    Bitcoin has climbed around 4.6% since Friday night, hitting $106,533, and extending its rise over the $100k mark.

    Meanwhile, analyst Naeem Aslam of Zaye Capital Markets said:

  • Asia and US overnight

    Stocks in Asia were lower overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) flat on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.9% in Hong Kong.

    The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.2% down by the end of the session with Chinese stocks weak after disappointing retail sales data.

    Sales unexpectedly slowed in November, rising 3.0% year-on-year, compares to the 5.0% expected. It marked a sharp slowdown from the 4.8% growth in October.

    November industrial production rose by 5.4% from a year ago, accelerating from a climb of 5.3% in the prior month and in line with expectations.

    Elsewhere, the Kospi (^KS11) erased its opening gains following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol over the weekend.

    It also comes ahead of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) meeting on Thursday in which most economists expect no change. There is only a 16% probability of a hike priced in.

    One of the reasons why a hike might wait until January is that MP Ishiba is trying to push a stimulus plan through parliament this month and the BoJ may prefer to avoid political interference and delay the hike.

    Across the pond, on Friday, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) ended pretty much unchanged, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.1% higher. The Dow Jones (^DJI) lost 0.2%.

  • Coming up…

    Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what’s moving markets, and all that’s happening across the global economy.

    Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda for today:

    • 7am: Trading updates: Juke Capital

    • 8.15am: European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde gives a speech to mark the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the euro in Lithuania

    • 9am: Eurozone flash PMI survey for December

    • 9.30am: UK flash PMI survey for December

    • 1.30pm: NY Empire State Manufacturing Index

    • 2.45pm: US flash PMI survey for December

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