A positive day for stocks is building after the Federal Reserve pledges to keep policy accommodating until the economy is up and running. And investors remain hopeful that U.S. legislators will get a stimulating deal.
To be sure, equities have had a fairly decent 2020, considering the turmoil brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the SPX of the S&P 500,
one-year earnings of 14% have nothing on how far one group of alternative assets has been.
Up over 200% this year, bitcoin cryptocurrency superstar BTCUSD,
it sailed to a new record of $ 22,000, tapping above $ 23,000 at one point early Thursday, a day after reaching above $ 20,000. And we have a couple of fresh calls on the cryptocurrency that indicate it may have much, much further to go.
Try $ 400,000, said Scott Minerd, chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners investment bank, who made that prediction to Bloomberg News late on Wednesday.
Minerd said his bank started allocating towards bitcoin when it was at $ 10,000, and while that is becoming challenging as the price is now closer to $ 20,000, “our basic work shows that bitcoin should be worth around $ 400,000. “
The jump from here to $ 400,000 is based on “relative shortages and valuations for things like gold as a percentage of GDP [gross domestic product]. Bitcoin actually has many gold attributes and at the same time it has unusual transactional value, ”Minerd said.
Wall Street wasn’t exactly hot for bitcoin in the early days, but institutional investor interest has been growing as they look for ways to shelter from the threat of future inflation. Larry Fink, 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 … 1999 internet stocks’
Another big bull on bitcoin, former Goldman Sachs student Raoul Pal, tweeted early Thursday that it is seeing bitcoin 10 times higher a year from now. Its December 2021 target is $ 250,000, Pal said in an email comment.
In the words of Pal, chief executive officer of Global Macro Investor and co-founder of Real Vision financial and Crypto TV, “bitcoin eats the world” in terms of asset returns.
However, not everyone agrees with the Bitcoin bulls:
See: This bitcoin fund went up over 1,000%. Beware
And also: Why more than 50% is too much Bitcoin
The markets
Future of YM00 stock,
ES00,
NQ00,
holds gains after a batch of data, while SXXP’s European equity,
higher overall, and Asian markets had a generally positive day. CL00 oil prices,
higher and the GBPUSD pound,
raises hopes of a post-Brexit deal and ahead of the outcome of a Bank of England policy meeting.
The buzz
Weekly unemployment claims peak at four months, with ongoing claims also on the rise. New homebuilding was erected ahead of them, and the Philadelphia Federal index showed continued elevated activity.
Additional doses in vials of the COVID-19 vaccine from the drug company Pfizer PFE,
and its partner BioNTech BNTX,
it could boost US supply by 40%. The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of leftover vaccines, which are reported by pharmacists. An Alaska health professional has reported the first cause of an allergic reaction to the vaccine.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, throwing several other European leaders into quarantine after they came into contact with it. The Hong Kong police dog is also now in quarantine after contracting a coronavirus.
TWTR’s Twitter social media micromessenger,
removes any posts it deems misleading about COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’re still talking and I think we’re going to get there.” That was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday afternoon, after leading law-makers failed to reach a deal. The talks will roll on for Thursday.
The chart
Random reading
Some parts of the Northeast US crack for 2 feet of snow on Thursday.
A beloved “Lord of the Rings” actor has now been vaccinated against COVID-19.
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