2023-12-04 18:56

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency-related stocks listed in the U.S. surged on Monday, looking to extend their strong November gains, as bitcoin topped $42,000 to hit a fresh high for the year. Shares of companies whose fortunes are tied to the cryptocurrency have rallied in recent weeks, spurred by optimism about potential interest rate cuts in the U.S. as well as traders betting on the imminent approval of U.S. stock market-traded bitcoin funds. Bitcoin climbed 4.1% to $41,649- its highest since April 2022. It had hit $42,162 earlier in the session. "The impact of an (ETF) approval is going to be big in terms of investment appetite because it's going to be more easily regulated, more attractive and easier to invest," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank. "What we have right now is a risk rally, and bitcoin is also benefiting big time from falling yields. There is also this positive bullish sentiment into next year because it is going to be the year of halving." Halving is a process designed to slow the release of bitcoin, and bitcoin prices have typically rallied following halvings. Coinbase (COIN.O) jumped 7.5%. The stock rose nearly 62% in November, even as the crypto exchange reported a decline in third-quarter trading volumes. Bitcoin investor Microstrategy (MSTR.O), which bought bitcoins worth $593 million last month, gained 8.2%. Bitcoin miners such as Riot Platforms (RIOT.O), Marathon Digital (MARA.O) and CleanSpark (CLSK.O) jumped between 10.3% and 18.8%, respectively, adding to their double-digit gains in November. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF , which tracks bitcoin futures, rose 7.7% and looked set to touch an over one-year high, while the ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF that allows traders to bet on a fall in bitcoin futures fell 7.7%. Investor sentiment toward cryptocurrencies and related assets had been lukewarm earlier this year after a string of high-profile collapses in 2022 led to outflows of more than a trillion dollars from the sector. However, the recent rally has sent bitcoin up more than 150% so far in 2023, on course for its best annual performance since 2020. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/crypto-stocks-surge-bitcoin-hits-fresh-2023-high-2023-12-04/

2023-12-04 17:55

PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Societe Generale , France's third-biggest listed bank, said on Monday it issued its first so-called digital green bond on a public blockchain, as the lender seeks to build expertise in crypto services. The inaugural transaction amounts to 10 million euros ($10.87 million) worth of senior preferred unsecured bonds with a maturity of 3 years, the bank said. AXA Investment Managers, the investment arm of France's biggest insurance company AXA and Generali Investments, its equivalent for Italian insurer Generali fully subscribed the related security tokens, through private placement, SocGen said. Blockchain is a digital ledger that records ownership of tokens. It has not seen widespread adoption but proponents say it has the potential to make trading more efficient and transparent. So far, blockchain's main use case has been cryptocurrencies. But banks are increasingly investing in developing tokenised securities, also known as security tokens or digital assets. The idea is to create blockchain-based tokens which represent ownership of traditional financial assets such as bonds. Proceeds from green bonds are aimed to be spent on projects or activities with environmental benefits, such as renewable energy and low carbon transportation. AXA IM made the investment in the digital green bond by acquiring and then spending 5 million euros worth of SocGen's euro-denominated stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV). SocGen's bond issuance, made on the Ethereum public blockchain, follows the launch last week by the European Investment Bank (EIB) of its second euro-denominated digital bond on a private blockchain, in partnership with Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, Santander and SocGen. SocGen's digital green bond issuance was made via its crypto unit, Forge. ($1 = 0.9202 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/socgen-issues-10-mln-euro-digital-green-bond-public-blockchain-2023-12-04/

2023-12-04 17:46

Dec 4 (Reuters) - New orders for U.S.-made goods fell more than expected in October, marking the biggest monthly drop in roughly three and a half years, constrained by weakening demand for durable goods and transportation equipment and bolstering the view that high interest rates are beginning to bite into spending. Factory orders fell 3.6% after a downwardly revised 2.3% in September, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday, the biggest monthly drop since April 2020. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders would decline 2.8%. Orders advanced 0.5% on an annual basis in October. The manufacturing sector, buoyed by a jump in spending on goods in the third quarter, is increasingly feeling the strain of higher interest rates and adds to signs the economy will more meaningfully slow in the fourth quarter. The sector accounts for 11.1% of the economy. Orders for durable goods fell 5.4%, with orders for transportation equipment slumping 14.7%. Machinery orders decreased 0.3%. Electrical equipment, appliances and components orders fell 1.1%. Manufacturing non-durables declined 1.9%. Shipments of manufactured goods fell 1.4%. Manufactured goods inventories edged up 0.1%, while unfilled orders rose 0.3%. The government also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, declined 0.3% instead of 0.1% as reported in last month's estimate. Shipments of these so-called core capital goods were flat from the previous month. Business spending on equipment contracted in the third quarter. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-factory-orders-fall-36-october-2023-12-04/

2023-12-04 17:00

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The bull is nearly loose. The S&P 500's feverish late-year rally has brought the index to its highest closing level of 2023, leaving it just 4.2% away from the all-time peak reached in January 2022. A close above 4,796.56 on the S&P 500 would confirm that the index has been in a bull market since bottoming out on Oct. 12, 2022, by one commonly used definition. The benchmark index is up 19.7% for the year and has risen 28.5% from its October 2022 low. A look at bull markets of the past suggests that investors should expect stocks to take a breather before marching higher. At the same time, plenty of obstacles remain for U.S. stocks, including the possibility that the Fed’s rate hikes chill the economy, upending the soft-landing hopes that have propelled equities higher. SMALLER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BEAR With the S&P 500 closing at a new year-high on Friday investors are close to getting confirmation that the bear market that started in January 2022 is over. Some investors define a bear market specifically as a decline of at least 20% in a stock or index from its previous peak. By that definition, the bear market that began when the S&P 500 hit its previous record on Jan. 3, 2022 was not particularly painful. The S&P 500 closed down 25.4% at its lowest point, making this the fourth shallowest bear market experienced by the index since 1928, according to data from Yardeni Research. At the same time, at 282 calendar days, it was somewhat shorter than the average bear market length of 341 days, based on data from Yardeni Research going back to 1928. STRONG LIKE BULL History also suggests that bull markets tend to feed off themselves, as strong stock performance pulls investors off the sidelines and boosts appetite for risk. Over the past 50 years, stocks have witnessed an average gain of nearly 260% during the six bull markets that have occurred. NOT SO FAST Of course, stocks rarely rise in a straight line. Over the last 50 years, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 16% in the three-month period leading up to a bull market. By contrast, the S&P 500 has logged average gains of just 0.2% and 2.0%, in the one-month and three-month period after a bull market is confirmed. SPEED BUMPS AHEAD? At the same time, there is no shortage of factors that could slow a rally or hurt investor confidence. Many investors are watching the U.S. economy: Expectations of an economic soft-landing, where the Fed manages to cool inflation without badly hurting growth, have supported the rally in stocks. But signs that the Fed’s 525 basis points of rate increases are slowing growth more than expected could argue for a more cautious approach to stocks and other so-called risky assets. One recession signal, the inverted yield curve, continues to hang over investors. Yields on two-year Treasuries have stood above those on 10-year Treasuries since July 2022. The 2/10 year yield curve has inverted six to 24 months before each recession since 1955, a 2018 report by researchers at the San Francisco Fed showed. (This story has been refiled to clarify that the reference to new year high is on a closing basis in paragraph 2) https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/bull-market-view-after-sp-500-hits-fresh-year-high-2023-12-04/

2023-12-04 16:52

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Pando Asset AG, a digital asset management firm based in Switzerland, last week became the latest issuer to submit an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to spot bitcoin prices. Pando becomes the 13th company vying for a share of what the cryptocurrency world believes could become a multi-billion dollar product, SEC filings showed. Others range from asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity to more specialized ETF providers like ARK Investments. Pando could not immediately be reached for further comment on its application. Optimism that the SEC may soon approve a spot bitcoin ETF is helping fuel a rally in the cryptocurrency that briefly propelled it above $42,000 Monday for the first time in more than 18 months. Pando is a latecomer to the U.S. spot bitcoin race, but already has three other spot crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Its ETF proposal included Bank of New York Mellon as the administrator of the Pando Asset Spot Bitcoin Trust. Pando isn't registered with the SEC as an investment company. Would-be issuers and cryptocurrency analysts believe regulators may opt to give the go-ahead to a number of providers by January 10, 2024 - the date the SEC must make a final decision on whether to approve or reject a proposal from Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management and its partner, digital asset firm 21Shares, to launch a spot bitcoin ETF. https://www.reuters.com/technology/swiss-firm-pando-becomes-13th-filer-spot-bitcoin-etf-2023-12-04/

2023-12-04 16:25

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 will likely struggle to rise much above current levels into the middle of 2024, as investors rotate away from growth stocks and the Federal Reserve holds off from interest rate cuts in the first half of next year, Stifel equity strategists said on Monday. Stifel Chief Equity Strategist Barry Bannister and his team sees the S&P 500 "topping" around 4,650 into mid-2024. That's 1.2% above the 4,594.63 level where the benchmark index ended on Friday, which marked a new closing high for 2023. Expectations the Fed is done hiking rates and will instead turn to rate cuts early next year have helped drive a rally in stocks in recent weeks. But the Stifel strategists said in their outlook note that they do not see the Fed cutting in the first half of 2024, pointing to economic growth and inflation proving resilient. Bannister and his team projected rotation in the first half from the megacap growth stocks that have led the market in 2023 to "cyclical value." The latter group of stocks includes banks, capital goods, energy, financial services, insurance, materials, real estate and transportation. "This rotation for the (cap-weighted) S&P 500 causes the index to struggle to rise much above 4,650 into mid-2024," the Stifel strategists said in their note. Longer-term, the strategists said they view the stocks as in a "secular bear market." "We expect a range-bound S&P 500 in real terms to continue into the early 2030s," the strategists said in their note. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/stifel-strategists-see-sp-500-struggling-gain-much-ground-by-mid-2024-2023-12-04/