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Stocks struggled to find direction on Tuesday as investors took in several economic reports, including data showing another drop in home prices.
Technique and inventories of communication services were two of the biggest fallers today as government bond yields rose, while energy and industrial stocks led the way.
On the economic front, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed home prices fell 0.2% month-on-month in January, marking their seventh straight monthly decline. On an annual basis, house prices rose by 3.8%, a notable slowdown from December’s 5.6% increase.
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Meanwhile, the Conference Board said that despite the turmoil in the banking sector – including the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank – the consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from a revised reading of 103.4 in February.
“While consumers are a little more confident about what lies ahead, they are a little less optimistic about the current landscape,” states the report (opens in new tab). Job uncertainty is on the rise, while the “latest results also show that their expectations of inflation in the next 12 months remains elevated – at 6.3 percent. General appliance purchase plans continued to decline, while car purchases increased slightly.”
In single news, Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA (opens in new tab)) spiked 14.3% after the Chinese conglomerate said it is splitting into six separate units, including Digital Media and Entertainment, Taobao Tmall Commerce and Cloud Intelligence. The divisions will each be able to raise funding and undergo an initial public offering (IPO), which will help “unlock shareholder value and promote market competitiveness,” the company said. The only exception is the Taobao Tmall Commerce group, which remains wholly owned by BABA.
As for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 32,394, the S&P 500 lost 0.2% to 3,971, and the Nasdaq composite decreased by 0.5% to 11,716.
Bitcoin ETFs and Cryptocurrency Funds to Know
We don’t talk about Bitcoin very often, and for good reasons. The cryptocurrency space is risky and volatile – and typically not the easiest environment for buy-and-hold investors looking to increase their returns over time with the best dividend stocks. That said, it’s good to keep an eye on what’s happening in all corners of the market because so much of it is interconnected.
After a bad run in 2022, Bitcoin and its peer cryptocurrencies started the new year strong. (Bitcoin, in particular, is up more than 60% so far in 2023.) And that’s despite the turbulence in the industry. Most recently, this includes the failure of major cryptocurrency lenders Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank, as well as this week’s news that crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao have been charged by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with “deliberate evasion” of the law.
“Bitcoin is showing such incredible resilience to what’s going on around it, even in the crypto industry, that you have to wonder how sustainable that can be,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at currency data provider. OANDA (opens in new tab).
While only time will tell which direction digital currencies will take, investors curious about the asset class will want to check out the top Bitcoin ETFs and cryptocurrency funds. While many of these funds stick to stocks involved in cryptocurrency technology, a few names have more direct exposure to the coins themselves.
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