Stocks Halt Winning Run as Bitcoin Selloff Deepens: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — The start of a historically strong month on Wall Street saw stocks sliding as traders shunned riskier corners of the market amid a selloff in cryptocurrencies. A rout in Japanese debt rippled through global bonds.
Caution prevailed as a rally that drove the S&P 500 to its longest streak of monthly gains since 2021 took a breather. A gauge of smaller companies dropped almost 1%. Crypto-linked shares sank sharply, with Bitcoin tumbling 7% to below $85,000.
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Despite the reduced appetite for risk, Treasuries kicked off the week on the back foot as Japan’s benchmark yields hit the highest since 2008 on signs the nation will boost interest rates.
Equities lost steam after investors wrapped up a choppy November with gains as speculation grew that the Federal Reserve is more likely than not to ease policy this month.
“There is little question that the action over the past two weeks bodes well for a year-end rally,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak. “We’re still going to have to see some more upside follow-through this week to confirm that the worst is behind us.”
US factory activity shrank in November by the most in four months as orders weakened. This week’s data include a much-delayed inflation number for September and a preliminary reading of consumer confidence in December due Friday.
The S&P 500 fell to around 6,830. Most tech megacaps slipped, though Nvidia Corp. bounced after Friday’s rout. Energy producers joined a rally in oil.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose eight basis points to 4.09%. Merck & Co Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $8 billion through a corporate bond sale. The dollar slid.
Corporate Highlights:
Nvidia Corp. invested $2 billion in chip-design software maker Synopsys Inc. as part of a broader engineering and design tie-up that gives the chipmaker greater control over its supply chain. OpenAI is taking an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings, an investment vehicle set up earlier this year by Thrive Capital, adding to a growing list of circular deals involving the ChatGPT maker and its backers. China’s DeepSeek unveiled two new versions of an experimental artificial-intelligence model it released weeks ago, adding fresh capabilities the startup said would help with combining reasoning and executing certain actions autonomously. Strategy Inc. said it had created a $1.4 billion reserve to fund future dividend and interest payments, in a bid to temper fears that the Bitcoin accumulator may be forced to sell some of its roughly $56 billion cryptocurrency haul if token prices continue to fall. First Digital Group is planning to go public by merging with a blank-check company, as crypto firms take advantage of more favorable regulations to list their shares on stock markets. Eli Lilly & Co. is cutting the price for introductory doses of its weight-loss drug Zepbound again, as competition heats up with rival Novo Nordisk A/S. Moderna Inc. fell after the Food and Drug Administration said in a memo late last week it would place new restrictions on which vaccines hit the market. Walt Disney Co.’s Zootopia 2 pulled in $272 million to claim China’s second-biggest opening ever for a foreign film, boosting the US studio in a key market. Barrick Mining Corp. is exploring an initial public offering of its prized North American gold assets as it grapples with upheaval from mining setbacks and a management shakeup. Somnigroup International Inc., the world’s largest bedding company, proposed to buy one of its biggest suppliers, Leggett & Platt Inc., in an all-stock transaction worth about $1.6 billion. Airbus SE suffered a one-two punch on its popular A320 airliner after revealing a quality issue on some fuselage panels — just days after flagging a software glitch on about 6,000 jets that required emergency upgrades. BHP Group offered around £40 billion ($53 billion) in its now-aborted attempt to acquire Anglo American Plc, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A massive data breach at South Korea’s largest e-retailer Coupang Inc. caps what is set to be a record year for online leaks in the country, highlighting weaknesses in Seoul’s cyber defenses. BYD Co.’s sales fell for a third straight month as the world’s largest electric vehicle maker faces intensifying competition from rivals churning out popular models. China Vanke Co., the distressed builder that surprised markets last week when it proposed an unspecified delay in paying a local bond, has now asked holders to wait a year to be made whole, as it faces mounting liquidity pressure amid waning state support. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 11 a.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2% The MSCI World Index fell 0.3% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 0.1% The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.7% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1630 The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3252 The Japanese yen rose 0.7% to 155.11 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 7.2% to $84,645.85 Ether fell 9.2% to $2,743.88 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 4.09% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.75% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.48% The yield on 2-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 3.53% The yield on 30-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 4.74% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $59.40 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.2% to $4,232.52 an ounce ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
