Suchat longthara/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Bitcoin succumbed to major selling pressure shortly after last Friday’s gold rout and the outright crash in silver. Over the weekend, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency plunged into the mid-$70,000s. Down 12% year-to-date, bitcoin is a notable laggard in a sea of solid 2026 asset class returns. I’ll get into price action on the iShares Bitco...
Suchat longthara/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Bitcoin succumbed to major selling pressure shortly after last Friday’s gold rout and the outright crash in silver. Over the weekend, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency plunged into the mid-$70,000s. Down 12% year-to-date, bitcoin is a notable laggard in a sea of solid 2026 asset class returns. I’ll get into price action on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF ( IBIT ) in just a moment, but it often helps to frame crypto’s size relative to the global investable universe. According to WisdomTree, cryptocurrency is 1.2% of the so-called global portfolio. So, any allocation larger than that is an overweight. Remarkably, as of mid-January, gold commanded a 12% share (valued at more than $30 trillion). Today, amid significant crypto volatility, I’m revisiting IBIT. I had a buy rating back in November . Shares were precisely unchanged since my previous analysis as of last Friday’s close, but bitcoin itself is now down more than 5% since right before Thanksgiving. Following my Q4 assessment, IBIT jumped to the mid-$50s. The $77,000 downside support spot I noted is not right in play. With support near, I reiterate a buy rating. Crypto's Weighting in the Global Market Portfolio is Near 1% WisdomTree Funds According to the issuer , IBIT enables investors to get exposure to bitcoin through the convenience of an exchange-traded product, helping remove the operational, tax, and custody complexities of holding bitcoin directly. A $64 billion fund, IBIT finished January with muted implied volatility. According to options data from Fidelity Investments, bitcoin’s “IV” was only 40%, closer to 52-week lows rather than 52-week highs. At the time of my previous write-up, we were looking at near-60% implied volatility, which indicated a near-term price trough, following the auto-deleveraging (ADL) liquidation event that Fundstrat’s Tom Lee often speaks of. I expect IBIT’s IV to once again soar to begin February. Should it approach the ke...
Hang Lung Properties Chair Adriel Chan says Hong Kong's falling office rents pressured the company's earnings last year, and occupancy rates are showing no signs of picking up despite the housing market's recovery. He speaks on Bloomberg's The China Show. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hang Lung Properties Chair Adriel Chan says Hong Kong's falling office rents pressured the company's earnings last year, and occupancy rates are showing no signs of picking up despite the housing market's recovery. He speaks on Bloomberg's The China Show. (Source: Bloomberg)
GalaxySpace, the first "unicorn" company in China's commercial space sector, is planning to launch more satellites into orbit this year. Peter Huang, General Manager for International Business Development, says China's policies have been supportive for private companies in the space industry. He speaks with Bloomberg's Avril Hong at Singapore's Space Summit. (Source: Bloomberg)
GalaxySpace, the first "unicorn" company in China's commercial space sector, is planning to launch more satellites into orbit this year. Peter Huang, General Manager for International Business Development, says China's policies have been supportive for private companies in the space industry. He speaks with Bloomberg's Avril Hong at Singapore's Space Summit. (Source: Bloomberg)
South Korean stocks slumped, as uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates and concerns about the sustainability of AI-related spending hit technology shares. The Kospi fell as much as 4.9%, the most since Nov. 5, and a slide in futures triggered a halt in program trading on the benchmark index. Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. , the chip heavyweights that engineered the country’s wo...
South Korean stocks slumped, as uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates and concerns about the sustainability of AI-related spending hit technology shares. The Kospi fell as much as 4.9%, the most since Nov. 5, and a slide in futures triggered a halt in program trading on the benchmark index. Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. , the chip heavyweights that engineered the country’s world-beating gains since the start of last year, fell more than 5% each. The won also slid. A slew of factors led to investors unwinding positions in high-flying names, including jitters over Kevin Warsh’s nomination as the next Federal Reserve chair and volatile metals prices. Sentiment was further dented by Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s comments that the proposed $100 billion investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment,” which raised fresh doubts about the scale of future AI capital deployment. “Jensen’s comments likely had a near‑term sentiment impact, particularly on AI‑exposed names that have rallied strongly year to date,” said Gary Tan , a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. “The remarks primarily served as a profit‑taking catalyst, as we see some unwinding of crowded trades across the market.” Seoul has been one of the world’s hottest stock markets since last year thanks to voracious demand for memory chips to work alongside AI processors such as those made by Nvidia. The Korean market has climbed to a valuation of over $3.3 trillion, overtaking Germany last week to rank as the world’s 10th‑largest, just behind Taiwan. Domestic and foreign funds were sellers of Korean stocks on a net basis Monday, while retail investors bought shares. Sentiment was weak across the Asian region, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down more than 2%. The Korean won fell as much as 1.3% to 1,459.20 against the dollar, marking the biggest daily decline since October. The Korean currency underperformed Asian peers broadly, compounded by foreign selling.
(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Wednesday, adding to the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to near the 8,100 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by financial and energy stocks. Traders were reacting to the beginning of the trad...
(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Wednesday, adding to the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to near the 8,100 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by financial and energy stocks. Traders were reacting to the beginning of the trade war between the U.S. and its major trading partners. The U.S. imposed tariffs by U.S. on Canada, Mexico and China, with China and Canada putting in place retaliatory measures in the form of tariffs. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 96.20 points or 1.17 percent to 8,101.90, after hitting a low of 8,096.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 98.30 points or 1.17 percent to 8,322.60. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday. Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is losing more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is declining almost 2 percent, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each. In the tech space, Appen is advancing more than 6 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent, while Xero is losing almost 2 percent, Zip is declining almost 4 percent and Afterpay owner Block is slipping almost 5 percent. Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are losing almost 2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is down more than 2 percent and ANZ Banking is declining more than 1 percent. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining almost 3 percent. Resolute Mining is advancing almost 5 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.1 percent. In economic news, Australia's economy grew by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, accelerati...