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NASDAQ hits new record, as jobless claims drop
On Thursday, the NASDAQ and S&P 500 both notched new highs, as data released showed that Jobless claims in the U.S. were falling.
Figures from the Labor Department showed that claims for unemployment benefits fell by 14,000, to a total of 340,000 for the week that ended August 28th.
đź’ˇHow Jobless Claims Affect the Market As mentioned, the initial jobless claims measure emerging unemployment and the continued claims data measure the number of people still claiming unemployment benefits. The continued claims data is released one week later than the initial claims. For this reason, the initial claims usually have a higher impact on the financial markets. |
Today’s report was the lowest level since March 2020, during the height of the pandemic, when mandatory lockdowns were put in place.
The drop comes as markets had forecast a decline to 345,000 applications for the latest week, and as other data showed that layoffs had hit a 24-year low.
Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were higher as of writing.
Bitcoin climbs to 1-week high above $50,000
During today’s session, the world’s largest cryptocurrency rose to its highest level in over a week, after several days of consolidation.
BTCUSD rose to an intraday day high of $50,384 in Thursday’s trading session, which is its highest point since August 23rd.
💡Important Crypto Information Although cryptocurrency bills itself as a form of money, the Internal Review Service (IRS) considers it a financial asset or property. And, as with most other investments, if you reap capital gains in selling or trading it, the government wants a piece of the profits. |
The rally comes after a recent frenzy within the Decentralized Finance space (DeFi), with several tokens like Cardano showing promise.
Aside from Bitcoin, Ethereum has been up by as much as 6% since yesterday, as it looks set to reclaim $4,000.
In 2021, Ethereum has outperformed BTC, and is currently up over 400% compared to Bitcoin’s gains of over 70%.
EURUSD rallies to highest level in 3-weeks
Thursday’s string of rallies continued in Forex markets, where EURUSD rose to its highest level in over 3-weeks.
The world’s most traded currency pair hit an intraday high of 1.1871 earlier today, which is the weakest USD has been against the Euro since August 4th.
Strength in the Euro comes as the reports continue to flood markets that the ECB could soon begin to taper its bond purchasing programme.
💡What is Tapering Tapering refers to policies that modify traditional central bank activities. Tapering efforts are primarily aimed at interest rates and at controlling investor perceptions of the future direction of interest rates. |
Many now wait to see how USD will react on Friday, as we await the release of the latest non-farm payrolls report.
As of writing, EURUSD was trading at 1.1865.
Quote of the day – “Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux, and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.”
– George Soros