rewrite this title The Daily Breakdown: Bitcoin clears $100K

The Daily Breakdown previews Friday’s monthly jobs report and takes a look at the charts for Bitcoin as it crosses the key $100K mark.

Thursday’s TLDR

Friday’s jobs report will be key
BTC crosses $100K
Mixed earnings in retail

What’s happening?

Three sessions into December and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 have hit all-time highs in each session. Will they make it four-for-four today? 

The start to December has been entertaining, but the focus is quickly shifting to Friday, which features the monthly jobs report. That report will go live at 8:30 a.m. ET. 

Investors are looking for a reassuring report — one that says the labor market is on solid footing. While we all want lower rates from the Fed, it’s key for the US jobs market to remain intact if we want the bull market to carry on. 

Remember, coming into 2024, interest-rate expectations were calling for five to six cuts. By June, those expectations had vanished. Despite this, equities have marched higher all throughout 2024. 

Earnings, jobs, the economy, and Fed policy are all key components to equities, but the bull-market equation becomes much less stable if the jobs market and economy begin to crumble. Let’s hope we get an optimistic update on Friday. 

Until then, remember we also have earnings from Lululemon Athletica, Ulta Beauty, Dollar General, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise today as well.

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The setup — BTC

Bitcoin has been consolidating nicely since nearly hitting the critical $100K mark on November 22nd. It consolidated by maintaining a bulk of its gains while staying about its 21-day moving average — a short-term measure of its recent trend. 

Now, it’s clearing this consolidation zone, as well as $100K. 

New highs are exactly what investors want to see. From here, bulls ideally would like to see Bitcoin hold above that key $100K mark. 

Should it do so, more upside could follow as Bitcoin has quite a bit of momentum behind it at the moment. However, a break back below $100K doesn’t necessarily spell doom and gloom. 

If BTC is able to stay above the $92,000 to $96,000 area and the 21-day moving average, the price action can remain constructive for bulls. 

As great of a run as it’s been, keep in mind some of the volatility these cryptoassets can experience. We don’t know when the next pullback will occur, but it will come eventually.

What Wall Street is watching

FIVE – Five Below stock rallied in after-hours trading, climbing on better-than-expected results. The retailer delivered earnings of 42 cents a share, well ahead of expectations calling for earnings of 17 cents a share. Revenue of $844 million easily topped estimates of $802 million. Check the chart.

AEO – Shares of American Eagle moved lower in after-hours trading following the company’s most recent quarterly update. The retailer delivered mixed results, beating on earnings but missing on revenue expectations. 

UNH – Shares of UnitedHealth could have been in focus on Wednesday because of the company’s Investor Day. Instead though, the company made headlines as UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in New York City ahead of the event. Note that Thompson isn’t the CEO of UNH, but of a key unit within the company.

Disclaimer:

Please note that due to market volatility, some of the prices may have already been reached and scenarios played out.