On Thursday, Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 as investors anticipated a positive regulatory change in the U.S., while Asian stocks remained steady following record highs on Wall Street, fueled by increasing optimism over potential U.S. interest rate cuts.
Bitcoin reached $100,000 in the morning in Asia, later rising to $103,400.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a number,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.
“But the reality is we’ve been able to get to this level because the industry has become institutionalised this year particularly – and that’s mostly the ETF inflows,” he said, referring to exchange traded funds approved earlier this year.
The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all reached record highs overnight.
In the past week and a half, markets have nearly priced in an additional U.S. rate cut for 2025, with the likelihood of a rate cut in December rising from even odds to about 75%.
S&P 500 futures slipped slightly, while European futures dropped 0.2%. German stocks have gained 4% over the past week, reaching record highs.
MSCI’s broad index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.2%, as losses in Hong Kong outweighed gains in Australia and Japan. Japan’s Nikkei hit a three-week high, rising about 0.4%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped around 1.1%.
The U.S. ISM survey revealed a slowdown in services sector activity for November, following strong growth in recent months. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields dropped three basis points to 4.182% and remained steady during Asian trading.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made measured remarks at a New York Times event on Wednesday, acknowledging the economy’s strength but not challenging the market’s expectations for rate cuts.
Earlier this week, Fed Governor Christopher Waller signaled he was inclined toward a rate cut in December. European retail sales and German factory orders are due later, but the week’s focus remains on U.S. employment data on Friday, with a strong report potentially reversing recent bond-market movements.
“Generally data in the U.S. has continued to be pretty resilient,” said RBC Capital Markets’ chief economist in Sydney, Su-Lin Ong, noting measures such as the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow estimate are for solid growth at 3.2% in the fourth quarter.
“We think the market has got too much priced in.”
Dollar dips slightly
The dollar followed U.S. yields lower in the forex market, though only slightly. The euro remained at $1.0525, pressured by political instability in France, where the government faced its first confidence vote loss since 1962.
French bond futures held steady during Asian trading.
The yen retraced some recent gains, as expectations for a December rate hike diminished following reports suggesting policymakers are likely to remain cautious.
The yen was slightly stronger at 150.14 per dollar on Thursday. The Australian dollar, at $0.6435, recovered from its largest drop in a month on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected growth data.
Financial markets in South Korea remained largely stable after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law late Tuesday, which sparked volatility and a political crisis.
In commodity trading, expectations of continued Chinese stimulus helped support iron ore prices, while oil prices edged up ahead of an OPEC+ meeting later in the day.
Sources told Reuters that OPEC and its allies in OPEC+ are likely to extend their current oil production cuts.
Brent crude futures rose by two cents to $72.33 a barrel, while gold prices held steady at $2,649 an ounce.