A positive day for stocks is building after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep policies accommodative until the economy is on its feet. And investors continue to hope that US lawmakers will get a stimulus deal.
Sure, stocks have had a pretty decent 2020, given the misery caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the SPX of the S&P 500,
A 14% gain since the start of the year has nothing to do with how a group of alternative assets has fared.
Rise more than 200% this year, cryptocurrency superstar bitcoin BTCUSD,
sailed to a new high of $ 22,000, at one point early Thursday above $ 23,000, one day after hitting more than $ 20,000. And we have a few new calls on the cryptocurrency that indicate there is still much, much further to go.
Try $ 400,000, says Scott Minerd, chief investment officer of investment bank Guggenheim Partners, who made that prediction Bloomberg News Wednesday late.
Minerd said his bank started allocating bitcoin when it was $ 10,000, and while that becomes a challenge as the price is now closer to $ 20,000, “our fundamental work shows that bitcoin should be worth about $ 400,000.”
The jump from here to $ 400,000 is based on “scarcity and relative valuation, like things like gold as a percentage of GDP [gross domestic product]. Bitcoin actually has many of the characteristics of gold and at the same time has an unusual value in terms of transactions, ”said Minerd.
Wall Street was not exactly hot for bitcoin in its early days, but interest from institutional investors is growing as they look for ways to protect themselves against the threat of future inflation. Larry Fink, the founder and chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, said earlier this month that bitcoin could potentially turn into a global market asset.
Read: Paul Tudor Jones says bitcoin ‘reminds him of … internet stocks from 1999’
Another big bull on bitcoin, Goldman Sachs alumnus Raoul Pal, tweeted early on Thursday that he sees bitcoin 10 times higher in a year. His target for December 2021 is $ 250,000, Pal said in an email response.
In the words of Pal, Global Macro Investor’s chief executive officer and co-founder of Real Vision Financial and Crypto TV, “bitcoin is eating the world” when it comes to asset returns.
The markets
Equity Futures YM00,
ES00,
NQ00,
rise, while European equities SXXP,
are also in green, and Asian markets had a mostly positive day. Oil prices CL00,
are higher and the pound GBPUSD,
rises based on hopes after the Brexit deal and ahead of the outcome of a Bank of England policy meeting.
The buzz
Weekly and ongoing jobless claims, and housing starts – the number of homes construction has begun – in addition to the Philadelphia Federal Index are all on the doorstep.
Additional doses in vials containing the COVID-19 vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
and its partner BioNTech BNTX,
could boost US supply by 40%. The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of leftover vaccines, reported by pharmacists. The first case of an allergic reaction to the vaccine has been reported by an Alaska health worker.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19 and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is among those now in quarantine after coming into contact with him. A Hong Kong police dog is now also in quarantine after contracting the corona virus.
Social media micro messenger Twitter TWTR,
removes any reports it deems misleading about COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’re still talking and I think we’ll get there.” Senate leader Mitch McConnell was Wednesday afternoon after leading lawmakers failed to secure a deal. The talks will continue on Thursday.
The graph
Random reads
Some parts of the northeastern US are bracing for two feet of snow on Thursday.
A beloved “Lord of the Rings” actor has now been vaccinated against COVID-19.
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