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A consumer shops for groceries at a retail store on December 12, 2023 in Rosemead, California.
Frederick J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
Price pressure continues
December’s inflation report showed consumer prices rose more than expected. Labor Department data showed the CPI rose 0.3% in December, slightly above the expected 0.2% rise. On an annual basis, the CPI rose 3.4% from a year earlier, exceeding the 3.2% rise expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The price increase was primarily driven by the rising cost of shelter.
flat stocks
U.S. stocks closed largely flat on Thursday, with slightly better-than-expected inflation data limiting any big moves. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index ended with a third straight day of losses, with shares falling to the bottom of the index after British retailer Marks & Spencer signaled “short-term” challenges.
Bitcoin ETF is on the move!
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds debuted on U.S. exchanges on Thursday, tracking wild swings in the volatile cryptocurrency’s price. About 11 ETFs began trading after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved recent rule changes, including Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and iShares, which exchanged tens of millions of shares.・Includes Bitcoin Trust.
dismissal of technicians
Investors also witnessed a wave of layoffs across technology companies on Thursday. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has laid off hundreds of employees to focus on its “biggest product priorities.” Discord, the messaging service popular with gamers, also confirmed it would cut 17% of its workforce, or about 170 people, while Amazon’s Audible division announced it would cut about 5% of its broader workforce. .
[PRO] Impact of new Bitcoin ETF
With the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF starting trading on US exchanges, analysts are already starting to predict what will happen next. The move has raised hopes that traditional institutional traders, who have been sitting on the sidelines, may join the market.
Thursday was a historic day for cryptocurrencies, but the broader theme for the market was slightly higher-than-expected inflation.
Wall Street’s major indexes ended flat, with the Nasdaq Composite index settling at 14,970.19, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.04% and the S&P 500 index falling 0.07%.
Following an annual increase of 3.4%; The path to the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target could be tougher than many market participants and economists expected.
It also highlights the gap between the Fed’s communiqué and market expectations for rate cuts, which was already seen in March of this year, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Giuseppe Sette, president of AI-based market research firm Toggle AI, said: “The party of ‘longer and longer’ has received another bullet for its treason.”
“Throughout the Fed’s history, interest rates have always been kept well above inflation in any scenario leading up to a recession. This CPI result puts the first rate cut even further away, perhaps in 2024. It won’t even happen.”
However, Bitcoin ETF trading quickly became an exciting event for market participants.
This gives retail investors a slice of the cryptocurrency pie, raising hopes that large institutional investors on Wall Street will also jump on board.
Bitcoin, the world’s oldest and most popular cryptocurrency, traded volatile on Thursday. The cryptocurrency soared above $49,000, its highest since December 2021, but that gain disappeared by the end of the day.
Bitcoin ETFs also reflected the volatile movements of cryptocurrencies.
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