The other excitement overnight was bitcoin’s latest wild ride after the ‘X’ account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was hacked with a false message saying it had approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for cryptocurrency.
An ETF decision has long been awaited by the crypto industry and was expected to come this week, lifting bitcoin prices in advance. After eventually removing the erroneous social media posting, the SEC said it had not yet approved spot bitcoin ETFs.
Bitcoin slid 1.3% to $45,516 after surging to a 21-month peak of $47,897 on the fake post.
With the December U.S. consumer price report due on Thursday and fourth-quarter U.S. bank reports kicking off the earnings season on Friday, markets elsewhere were less frenetic.
The first of the week’s big Treasury auctions seemed to go smoothly late on Tuesday, with $52 billion of 3-year notes sold without a glitch and some $37 billion of 10-year notes up for grabs later on Wednesday.
Ten-year yields slipped back below 4% in advance of both the auction and the CPI release tomorrow. The dollar was higher against the yen, but softer against the other majors.
S&P500 futures were marginally higher ahead of the bell, after a 0.14% retreat on Tuesday.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged errors by the U.S. planemaker as more than 170 jets remained grounded for a fourth day after a mid-air Alaska Airlines panel blowout last week, telling staff the company would ensure such an accident “can never happen again”.
After an 8% drop on Monday, Boeing stock continued to fall a further 1% on Tuesday and was in the red again in Frankfurt early on Wednesday.
With election anxiety dominating the island, Taiwan’s mega chipmaker TSMC reported largely flat fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday, but that still beat both the company’s and market’s expectations.
