Platinum wins, gold loses: Bitcoin breaks the 50,000 mark again

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Platinum wins, gold loses
Bitcoin cracks again 50,000 mark

After the long weekend, the most important US indices start extremely ambitiously, but then lose momentum. The movements in Bitcoin and on the commodity markets are particularly noticeable.

Speculations on a surge in growth through the planned billion dollar Corona state aid give Wall Street a further boost. Investor sentiment is good and their appetite for risk is great, said Derek Halpenny, chief analyst for Europe at Bank Mitsubishi UFJ. After the long weekend in the US, the US standard value index rose Dow Jones on Tuesday by 0.2 percent to 31,522 points, after having previously traded slightly higher and thus reached an all-time high. The broad S&P 500 closed hardly changed, the technology-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.3 percent.

Investors' optimism can also be seen in strong price gains in cyclical stocks, said Thomas Hayes, manager at asset manager Great Hill. This trend is sure to continue for the rest of the year. On the surface, however, this is not so noticeable because investors are withdrawing money from other industries in order to put it in so-called cyclicals. As a result, the indices usually rose comparatively moderately.

Financial stocks in demand

Commodity investors are also betting on an upturn. The price for the important industrial metal copper temporarily rose to a nine-year high of $ 8,437 a ton. Speculations on a recovery in automobile sales raised platinum at times to a six and a half year high. Because of the trend towards more environmentally friendly technologies, the demand will exceed the supply for the foreseeable future, forecast Neil Wilson of the online broker Markets.com.

By contrast, investors withdrew from "safe havens". The "anti-crisis currency" gold fell 1.4 percent to $ 1,793 a troy ounce (31.1 grams). US Treasuries were also less in demand. Financial stocks rose in the wake of rising yields. Because when interest rates rise, they can expect greater profits from the traditional lending business. Shares of Bank of America and JPMorgan rose by around 2.5 percent each.

Meanwhile succeeded Bitcoin jumped over the 50,000 mark after several attempts. The oldest and most important cyber currency rose by up to five percent to a record high of 50,602 dollars, but then largely gave up the gains again. The coverage of the soaring creates fear among readers that they will miss something, said Avatrade expert Aslam. "Small investors believe that nothing can stop Bitcoin on its way to the $ 100,000 mark." Against this background, investors courageously took hold of stocks from the cryptocurrency sector and companies that deal with the blockchain technology on which Bitcoin & Co is based. Riot papers rose 20 percent.

Pharmaceutical values ​​are falling again

The falling numbers of infections and the progress made with the vaccination campaign left investors in US travel sector access again. The shares of the major airlines American Airlines, United and Delta rose by up to four percent. Those of the cruise lines Royal Caribbean and Carnival even jumped up to almost ten percent.

Corona vaccine manufacturers' shares rowed back after a good run, Biontech and Moderna each fell by almost three percent. A fourth corona vaccine could come onto the market in Europe in mid-March. After the USA did Johnson & Johnson now also applied for approval in the EU. The papers of the pharmaceutical company do not benefit from it, however, they fell by 0.9 percent.

For one Euro was last paid $ 1.2107 after a little up and downhill ride. The dollar cost 0.8235 euros. US Treasuries suffered losses.