4:10pm: Stocks mixed, Bitcoin surges
The Dow Jones finished Tuesday’s trading session lower, shedding almost 100 points or 0.3% at 38,972 points.
The Nasdaq, however, added 0.4% at 16,035 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.2% at 5,078 points.
Bitcoin had also added 4.6% at US$56,834.55, a two-year high.
12:13pm: Dow Jones extends losses as Bitcoin holds gains
The Dow Jones extended its losses as Tuesday afternoon came around, with the S&P 500 also ducking into the red.
Come midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 164 points at 38,904, while the S&P 500 sat just off its opening value at 5,068.
The Nasdaq Composite enjoyed a marginal 37-point gain to reach 16,013, meanwhile.
Mixed fortunes came as Bitcoin held onto strong gains of 4.7% into the afternoon to reach US$44,999, after having hit a two-year high earlier in the day.
Markets were also reacting to data on durable goods orders in January and house prices a month earlier in December.
“Risk on sentiment has taken a hit as US durable goods orders saw their biggest month-on-month fall since April 2020 while US home prices increased the most since November 2022,” IG analyst Axel Rudolph commented.
Durable goods orders slipped 6.1% month on month in January, data revealed on Tuesday, compared to a 0.3% decline in December and against expectations for a 4.5% fall.
House prices were revealed to have climbed by 0.1% month on month, or by 6.6% on a year earlier, meanwhile, marginally below forecasts.
“The rally in major US and European stock indices is thus taking a breather,” Rudolph said, adding attention now turned to fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures, due on Wednesday.
10:35am: Markets face mixed start as Bitcoin skyrockets
The Dow Jones saw red as the markets opened on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 marking muted gains as Bitcoin soared to a two-year high.
Some 188 points were wiped off the Dow Jones after the opening bell, seeing it stoop to 38,951. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 added 41 and just 2 points respectively, to reach 16,018 and 5,072.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, soared 5% to US$57,218 on Tuesday, having hit a two-year high earlier in the day and adding 10% in the past two sessions alone.
The recent approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and purchases by large investors have fuelled the cryptocurrency’s latest gains, while the market also awaits the next halving in April.
MicroStrategy unveiled a US$155 million purchase of around 3,000 coins on Monday.
Reddit, which is gearing up for a New York listing, also recently disclosed investments in the cryptocurrency.
This follows approval of the spot Bitcoin funds in January, which Justin d'Anethan, partnership head at digital asset market maker Keyrock, said had subsequently prompted “relentless” demand.
April’s halving marks the most recent move to limit supply of the digital assets by slashing the reward for producing them by 50%, meanwhile.
Among equities, Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) jumped over 5% on the back of the strong gains by Bitcoin.
Elsewhere, Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) soared 75% after announcing strong results from its latest trial of weight loss drug VK2735.
Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) gained as the market reacted to Monday evening’s results, which included larger-than-anticipated profit guidance.
And finally, Workday Inc (NASDAQ:WDAY) and Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U) fell after each disappointed with their respective guidance, also unveiled in results on Monday night.
07:41am: Bounceback expected on Tuesday
US stocks are expected to bounce back from modest falls at the start of the week, with a load of macroeconomic data coming out to provide potential fuel for the fire.
Durable goods orders, Case-Shiller house prices, consumer confidence and inflation expectations are all due.
Ahead of the open, futures markets were pointing to a 0.3% gain for the Nasdaq, 0.2% for the S&P 500 and less than 0.1% for the Dow Jones.
In company earnings news, Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) shares are up 10% in Tuesday's pre-market trading after the video communications platform provider guided to a larger-than-expected profit for the current quarter, following mixed results for the three months to the end of January.
That was after the closing bell last night, whereas this morning Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) posted a large beat to quarterly profit forecasts but this was overshadowed by a downbeat full-year outlook from the home-improvement retailer.
Elsewhere, fast food chain The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN) was reported to be in the process of introducing a new Uber-style pricing model, where it would charge customers more based on demand - something that some bar chains have been doing for a while.
The dollar was at a five-day low, with currency analyst Luca Santos at ACY Securities noting that this followed five consecutive weeks of gains.
"This shift comes after a strong rebound at the beginning of the year, and reflects a decrease in the upward momentum of the US dollar in the short term. The hawkish adjustment of Federal Reserve policy expectations has been a key factor in the dollar's recent performance.
"The US rate market has adjusted its expectations, anticipating later and less substantial rate cuts by the Fed throughout the year. The first expected rate cut has been pushed back to June, aligning more closely with the Fed's own plan for three cuts by the end of the year."