In brief
- Bitcoin climbed toward $97,000 as most altcoins notched bigger gains.
- U.S. stocks rallied after positive earnings results from Microsoft and Meta
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned tariffs will cause “irreparable” harm to small businesses and requesting that the White House offer them “immediate relief.”
The price of Bitcoin climbed above $97,000 on Thursday after positive earnings results from Microsoft and Meta sent stocks rallying on Wall Street, despite a warning from the former that sweeping tariffs will crush countless small businesses.
The original cryptocurrency was recently changing hands around $96,600, a 2.7% increase over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Altcoins showed bigger gains, with Ethereum and Dogecoin rising 3.5% to $1,850 and 5% to $0.18, respectively.
Microsoft and Meta posted quarterly profits on Wednesday surpassing analyst expectations and indicating U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war isn’t weighing on “Magnificent Seven” stocks or the artificial intelligence trade that temporarily turned chipmaker Nvidia into the world’s most valuable firm last year.
Nvidia itself saw its stock price jump 2.6% to $112, according to Yahoo Finance. Ahead of Trump’s visit to the U.A.E. scheduled later this month, the U.S. is considering a bilateral chip deal that would ease restrictions on Nvidia sales to the region, per Bloomberg.
According to Steven Lubka, head of private clients at Swan Bitcoin, Bitcoin is benefiting from a risk-on sentiment, despite recently rallying on tariff-fueled turmoil alongside gold. The precious metal was set to fall 2.5% on Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance.
“The narrative that’s been going around Wall Street for the last few weeks is, ‘heads we win, tails we win,’” he said. “Either the [economic] situation keeps getting worse and Bitcoin rallies with gold […], or we get out of this whole tariff situation [and] Bitcoin wins in that scenario too.”
The U.S. economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, underscoring recession concerns, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Wednesday. Some analysts think that Bitcoin would benefit if a slowdown forces the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates.
For small businesses across America, an economy ailing from Trump’s tariffs would likely cause “irreparable” harm, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned in a letter on Thursday.
“They need immediate relief from tariffs,” the business organization’s President and CEO, Suzanne P. Clar, wrote. “As each day goes by, small businesses are increasingly endangered by higher costs and interrupted supply chains.”
Lubka said that markets were sensitive to Trump’s tariffs at first, but as the economic impact of them becomes increasingly clear, investors are starting to see through them.
“The market is realizing that this is just not where we’re going to end up,” he said. “They think they’re not going to stick.”
Edited by James Rubin
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