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CCM Blockchain Newsletter (December 2, 2024)

U.S. Treasury yields fell significantly last week as markets rallied.

CCM Blog

02 Dec 2024 — 4 min read

Happy Monday, all, and welcome back to this week’s market newsletter – for our American readers, we hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Market Overview

Equities close higher for second week in a row: The U.S. stock market’s major indices rose last week to close out November in the green, marking the sixth month out of the last seven for positive growth. The Dow and the S&P 500 both hit all-time highs over the week, with the Dow closing at 44,910.65 (+1.4%), the S&P 500 at 6,032.38 (+1.1%), and the NASDAQ at 19,218.17 (1.1%). Small caps rose as well, with the Russell 2000 closing at 2,434.73 (+2.9%).
Threat of Trump tariffs sends shockwaves through FOREX markets: President-elect Donald Trump made tariffs a major plank of his economic policy during his candidacy, and for now, markets believe he’ll make good on the promise. Both the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso declined last week, respectively falling 0.85% and 1.5% after Trump reaffirmed his commitment to impose 25% tariffs on both nations.
Oil falls while natural gas prices surge:
- Oil prices fell last week following a rise the week prior. Brent crude closed the week at $72.24 (-2.2%); the week prior, crude rose 5.15%.
- Unlike oil, natural gas surged last week. Spot prices for the Henry Hub index rocketed up 38.2% to $3.33/MMBtu. Demand is particularly strong right now as the parts of the United States brace for a frigid winter.
Yields plummet as yield curve continues to flatten: U.S. treasury yields fell precipitously across the board last week, with the yield curve, which was inverted briefly in the fall, continuing to flatten. The 10-year dropped 23 basis points to 4.18%, the 5-year fell 10 basis points to 4.10%, and the 2-year fell 17 basis points to 4.20%. The steep decline occurred in light of President Trump’s pick of Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary.
Returns for asset classes across the board are above 20-year average: Of the 11 asset classes that Edward Jones recommends to its clients, every single one of them is well above their 20-year average rate of return over the past year, with U.S. small cap stocks leading the way at just over a 35% gain.

What to look out for this week:

Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index (Monday)
U.S. Census Bureau report on construction spending (Monday)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (Tuesday)
Bureau of Economic Analysis report on motor vehicle sales (Tuesday)
EIA petroleum status report (Wednesday)
ADP National Employment Report (Wednesday)
Institute for Supply Management’s Non-manufacturing Index (Wednesday)
U.S. Census Bureau report on factory orders (Wednesday)
U.S. Census Bureau report on trade balance (Wednesday)
U.S. Department of Labor weekly unemployment claims (Thursday)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report on jobs and unemployment (Friday)
University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment preliminary result (Friday)
U.S. Federal Reserve report on consumer credit (Friday)

Notable corporate earnings this week:

Zscaler (Monday)
Salesforce (Tuesday)
Marvell Technology (Tuesday)
Dollar Tree (Wednesday)
Dollar General (Thursday)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Thursday)
Kroger (Friday)
Lululemon Athletica (Friday)

Bitcoin Market Update

Bitcoin cooled off last week following hot market action the week prior. Week-over-week, bitcoin fell 2.27% to roughly $96,700 (at the time of writing, bitcoin is hovering in the same range).
- Bitcoin ETF investors are taking profit, it seems, with these ETFs seeing $435.5 million in outflows on November 25.
With its stock up 465% year-to-date, Microstrategy has been all over the news lately, including a profile in the WSJ. The company has become a household name in the world of finance with its bitcoin accumulation strategy, where it has issued corporate bonds to purchase a massive stockpile of bitcoin. As of November 25, 2024, Microstrategy holds 386,700 BTC worth $37.5 billion. In November alone, Microstrategy increased its bitcoin treasury by 38%, purchasing 107,280 BTC ($50.3 billion) in three installments.

Interesting Reads and Videos

Bitcoin Mining Market News and Trends

Hashprice – a measure of mining revenue per unit of compute – has risen slightly over the week on the back of increased transaction fees. At the time of writing, hashprice is up to ~$61.55/PH/day, a meager change of 2%.
Bitcoin’s hashrate dipped significantly last week, falling from a weekly zenith of 765 EH/s to a nadir of 717 EH/s on the 7-day moving average. It’s plausible that the lake-effect snowstorm that smothered and froze much of the northeast and midwest is partly to blame for the chilling effect on Bitcoin’s hashrate over the week.
It’s been a great year for bitcoin, and public bitcoin miners are cashing in on it – both with bitcoin itself and with their equity. Per The Miner Mag, the largest publicly traded bitcoin miners raised over $5 billion in the first nine months of 2024 from equity financing, and they have also spent more than $3.6 billion in PP&E, the most since the first nine months of 2022.