S&P 500 Inches Higher, Small-Cap Rally Stalls, Bitcoin Sinks: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

Wall Street is navigating another quiet session characterized by low trading volumes in the post-holiday period. The S&P 500 index continues its gradual ascent toward retesting its all-time highs, edging up by just 0.1% as of midday trading in New York.

The Nasdaq 100 is mirroring this performance while achieving a significant milestone, boasting a 55% gain since the beginning of the year. This marks its best-performing year since 1999.

Blue-chip stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher. Small-cap stocks, on the other hand, are taking a breather. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM is down 0.3% after enjoying a 14% rise since the start of the month.

On the data front, weekly jobless claims have increased from 206,000 to 218,000, slightly surpassing the expected figure of 210,000.

Treasury yields have seen minor upticks of approximately 3 basis points across the yield curve. This modest increase has interrupted the fixed-income rally, causing the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT to decline by 0.6%.

Gold has remained relatively stable, priced at $2,075 per ounce, while crude oil, tracked by the United States Oil Fund USO, has fallen by 1%.

In the crypto domain, Bitcoin BTC/USD suffers a 2.3% decline. This drop followed the news that Cathie Wood decided to offload her remaining shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), valued at around $200 million. Her move comes ahead of the highly anticipated approval of a Bitcoin ETF in January.

Thursday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices & ETFs	Price	Chg	%
Dow Jones	37,714.17	+57.65	0.1%
S&P 500	4,788.32	+6.74	0.1%
Nasdaq 100	16,921.52	+14.72	0.1%
Russell 2000	2,062.25	-0.57	-0.3%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is 0.1% higher to $477.04, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA is 0.1% higher to $377.01 and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ is holding steady at $412, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU outperforms, up by 0.5%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lags behind, down 0.8%.

Among industries, the Invesco Solar ETF TAN gains 1%, while the VanEck Gold Miners ETF GDX falls 1.5%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD rises 2.5%, leading gains among large-cap tech.
• Crypto-related stocks had a mixed reaction to the Bitcoin’s decline: Coinbase Global Inc. COIN holds steady, Bit Digital Inc. BTBT rises 1.8%, while Riot Platforms RIOT and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. MARA fall 4% and 7%, respectively.
• Penn Entertainment PENN rallies 7%, after leading shareholder hedge fund HG Vora Capital Management has sought the authority to nominate members to the company’s board of directors.

Read now: SPY ETF On Track For $500B Milestone, Boosted By S&P 500’s Peak Performance, Record Inflows In 2023

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