Stocks traded sideways — stalling their pre-Christmas rally — and cryptos dipped Thursday, making one of the final trading days of the year a relatively quiet one.
The S&P 500 was down 0.06% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.02% at 2 pm ET. The price of bitcoin and ether had fallen by 3% and 3,8% respectively over the previous 24 hours.
Investors unpacked the one economic report of the week, which was the initial unemployment claims.
The number of first-time claimants for the week that ended December 21 was 210,000, which is a modest decrease from the prior week. This figure also falls below the median expectations of 224,000. However, continuing claims came in slightly above the expected 1.88 million.
Fed rate cuts are not expected to be impacted by the mixed news report. Fed funds futures market data showed that on Thursday, central bankers were 91% likely to hold interest rates for the 29th of January.
“One factor that pressures equities is the behavior of the fixed income market,” Pepperstone research strategist Quasar Elizundia said. “The continued rise in bond yields, driven by the reassessment of less restrictive monetary policy expectations, creates some concern.”
Elizundia also added that the stock market will be facing additional challenges, as investors appear to believe interest rates won’t drop as much in 2025 as they had previously predicted.
In 2025, regulatory developments will be the main market drivers in crypto. The new leadership of the SEC, CFTC and a Republican majority in Congress, along with the campaign promises made by President-elect Donald Trump could lead to a breakthrough during the first six months of 2019.
It would still be a mistake to ignore the impact of macroeconomics and monetary policies on cryptocurrency prices. We suggest that you keep an eye on everything, or at least on your email, next year.
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