S&P 500 Ekes Out Gain as Bitcoin Surges After Rout: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street staged a cautious rebound, with the S&P 500 stuck in a tight trading range despite a rally in cryptocurrencies that followed a rough start to December. Bonds and the dollar stabilized.
While the US equity benchmark rose for the sixth time in seven sessions, most of its firms dropped. Apple Inc. led gains in megacaps, but Tesla Inc. fell as Michael Burry called the shares “ridiculously overvalued.” Boeing Co. surged 10% as it expects to generate cash again in 2026.
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The stock market still requires a bit more broadening out before expecting an immediate push back to fresh highs, according to Mark Newton at Fundstrat Global Advisors.
“I have a constructive view for December, but still believe it is likely to show a ‘back and forth’ type pattern over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
At Piper Sandler, Craig Johnson says more time and technical evidence are needed for a “buy” signal to occur.
Bitcoin topped $90,000, recovering from a bruising selloff that caught the market off guard and erased nearly $1 billion in fresh leveraged bets.
As traders awaited the last few economic reports before next week’s Federal Reserve decision, President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his selection to lead the central bank in early 2026.
The S&P 500 rose to around 6,830. The Nasdaq 100 climbed almost 1%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.08%. The dollar wavered.
Read: Fed’s Bowman Says Regulators Working on Stablecoin Rules
Read: SEC Head Wants to Ease Rules for Small-Firm Public Offerings
Anyone looking to bet against US stocks this month would be wise to consider the strength of the American economy and ongoing enthusiasm around artificial intelligence.
That’s the view at 22V Research, where strategists say an increase in consumer spending and investments in AI are likely to support productivity, allowing firms to deliver the profits needed to power stocks higher.
“Being short here requires high confidence in a much weaker economic backdrop or a significant change in the outlook for AI capex,” according to strategists led by Dennis Debusschere.
While the S&P 500 recently managed to notch its longest monthly winning streak since 2021, the rally from April’s bottom has faced investor concerns around artificial-intelligence valuations and doubts around Fed rate cuts.
After cutting interest rates by more than a percentage point, Fed officials are now wondering where to stop – and finding there’s more disagreement than ever.
In the past year or so, prescriptions for where rates should end up have diverged by the most since at least 2012, when US central bankers started publishing their estimates. That’s feeding into an unusually public split over whether to deliver another cut next week, and what comes after that.
“Nothing is going to change our view that the Fed eases next week, but it is looking more like a hawkish cut,” said Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities. “We can see at least three dissents next week.”
Strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. say it’s unlikely that Treasuries will replicate this year’s strong performance in 2026 because markets have priced in too many rate cuts.
Money markets show traders are pricing in nearly four quarter-point Fed reductions over the next year, including one on Dec. 10.
“If the Fed doesn’t deliver as many cuts, there’s some normalization” in Treasury yields, said Jay Barry, JPMorgan’s head of global rates strategy, at a media briefing. The US economy “bends but doesn’t break,” he added.
Corporate Highlights:
Michael Burry called Tesla Inc. shares “ridiculously overvalued” and said shareholder dilution is set to continue after the proposed $1 trillion pay package for co-founder Elon Musk, according to a Substack post. Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit raced to get the latest version of its artificial intelligence chip to market, renewing efforts to sell hardware capable of rivaling products from Nvidia Corp. and Google. Cloud-computing provider Vultr is building a 50-megawatt cluster of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. artificial intelligence processors at a data center in Ohio, a move aimed at offering AI infrastructure at a lower cost. Boeing Co. expects to generate cash again in 2026, a significant reversal in the planemaker’s finances as it prepares to boost monthly production rates of its passenger aircraft. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. fielded a second round of bids, including a mostly cash offer from Netflix Inc., in an auction that could wrap up in the coming days or weeks, according to people familiar with the discussions. Comcast Corp. is looking to merge its NBCUniversal division with Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Strategy Inc.’s new $1.4 billion reserve gives the Bitcoin accumulator flexibility to meet short-term obligations such as its dividend and interest payments during times of market turbulence, according to Chief Executive Officer Phong Le. Crypto exchange Kraken is acquiring a tokenized assets platform in a vote of confidence for stock trading tied to blockchains. Cloudflare Inc. climbed after Barclays launched coverage on the infrastructure software company with an overweight rating and a $235 price target. MongoDB Inc., a database software company, reported stronger-than-expected results. It also raised its full-year forecast. Six Flags Entertainment Corp. rallied after Truist Securities upgraded the theme park operator’s stock to buy from hold. Analog chipmaker SiTime Corp., which specializes in chips that keep circuits in sync inside data centers, is in talks to acquire Renesas Electronics Corp.’s timing unit, according to people familiar with the matter. Carlyle Group Inc. sold a troubled loan it provided to iRobot Corp. less than three years ago as the maker of Roomba vacuum cleaners is trying to stave off a potential bankruptcy filing. Bank of Nova Scotia topped estimates on better-than-expected results at its capital-markets unit while forecasting faster growth next year in its core Canadian banking division. Laurentian Bank of Canada is set to become the latest small Canadian bank to exit the market after reaching an agreement to sell itself to Fairstone Bank for C$1.9 billion ($1.4 billion) while hiving off its retail banking unit to focus on commercial lending. Novo Nordisk A/S is planning a large study of its next-generation obesity shot CagriSema in children, a sign the drugmaker is pressing forward with the compound despite disappointing results in other trials. BMW AG is pressing the European Union to formally adopt a trade deal with the US that would give the German carmaker respite from ongoing tariff pressure. TotalEnergies SE has emerged as the leading bidder to buy a stake in Galp Energia SGPS SA’s major oil discovery offshore Namibia, according to people familiar with the matter. Vale SA and Glencore Plc are considering a joint copper project in Canada as the two companies look to increase their exposure to a metal projected to be in short supply as the world electrifies. Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its first so-called trifold smartphone, flaunting its engineering prowess in foldable devices even as the broader category has yet to catch on with mainstream consumers. Taiwanese prosecutors charged Tokyo Electron Ltd. for failing to prevent staff from allegedly stealing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. trade secrets, escalating a dispute involving two Asian linchpins of a chip industry increasingly vital to national and economic security. What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“A combination of resilient tech stocks and fragile undercurrents is pinning the S&P 500 within recent ranges, as investors lean on mega-cap growth while bracing for a likely hawkish Fed cut next week.”
—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 0.25% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% The MSCI World Index rose 0.2% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.5% The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1624 The British pound was little changed at $1.3209 The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 155.86 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 5.6% to $91,264.01 Ether rose 7% to $2,987.64 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.08% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.75% Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.47% The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.51% The yield on 30-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.74% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2% to $58.62 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.5% to $4,209.02 an ounce ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
