US Stocks Falter, Bonds, Dollar Gain, While Bitcoin Soars Past $43,000 On Rising Institutional Interest: What's Driving Markets Tuesday?

The momentum on Wall Street during Tuesday’s session continues to lack strength as investors carefully scrutinize the most recent economic data. Moody’s decision to lower China’s credit rating outlook from stable to negative also weighed on risk propensity.

While service activity showed a better-than-expected uptick in November, October’s job openings fell substantially, marking notable underperformance compared to earlier predictions.

The dollar is trending higher, up 0.3%. U.S. Treasuries also soared, with the popular iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rallying 2%.

Gold and silver fell further, down 0.5% and 1.5% respectively, weighed on by a stronger greenback.

Equities experienced declines, with the exception of the technology and discretionary sectors, which remained resilient.

Bitcoin BTC/USD made a strong move, surging 3.7% to exceed the $43,000 mark, driven by escalating rumors suggesting that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is considering a substantial investment of up to half a trillion dollars in Bitcoin.

Tuesday’s US Stock Index Performance

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY edged 0.1% lower to $456.14.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA eased 0.3% to $361.51. 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ held flat at $386.33.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM fell 1.3% to $184.45, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Chart Of The Day: Bitcoin Reaches 19-Month High

Sector, Industry ETF Performance

The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY managed to post minor gains.

All other S&P 500 sectors traded in the red, with the the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLB and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE suffering the largest declines, down 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively.

Looking at specific industries, retail stocks, as tracked by the SPDR Retail ETF XRT fell by 2.5%, followed by SPDR Metals & Mining ETF (ARCA: XME, down 2%.

Stocks In Focus

• Gamestop Corp. GME tumbled by more than 10%, offsetting Monday’s 11% rally.
• GitLab Inc. GTLB rose nearly 13%, after reporting better-than-forecasted quarterly results.
• Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD rose 7% after Cathie Wood included the stock in her ARKK FIntech Innovation ETF ARKF.
• Albemarle Corp. ALB fell over 6%.

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