Eyes on Georgia senate runoff results
U.S. stock futures were mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq 100 futures falling sharply as the Democratic party appeared set to gain control of the U.S. Senate following early results from Georgia’s runoff elections.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the Associated Press projected Raphael Warnock the winner over Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
The focus now turns to the second race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Sen. David Perdue. As of 4:45 a.m. ET, Ossoff was ahead of Perdue by less than 13,000 votes with 99% of the precincts reporting.
By 5:25 a.m. ET, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were indicated 221.25 point, or 1.73% lower to 12,572.25. Those tied to the blue-chip Dow rose 66 points, or 0.22% to 30,351 while the S&P 500 futures dropped 9.63 points, or 0.26% to 3,708.62.
Crude futures rally on surprise Saudi output cut and possible Georgia “blue sweep”
Crude futures moved higher early Wednesday as traders closely followed Georgia’s senate runoff results, betting that a “blue sweep” of Congress would make it easier for President-elect Joe Biden to implement his policy agenda on Covid-19, taxes, health care, the environment and other issues.
Sentiment was also boosted by news that Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed in meeting other big oil producers to cut production by a further 1 million barrels a day throughout February and March.
By 5:25 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 62 cents, or 1.24% to $50.55 a barrel. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, was at $54.56, up 96 cents, or 1.76% a barrel.
Bitcoin tops $35,000 as JP Morgan casts a long-term target of $146,000
Meanwhile, Bitcoin surged to a new high on Wednesday after JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) called a long-term target of $146,000 for the cryptocurrency.
According to Bloomberg, the investment banking giant based cast the target based on the assumption that Bitcoin will rise in popularity as an alternative to gold.
“A crowding out of gold as an ‘alternative’ currency implies big upside for Bitcoin over the long term,” JP Morgan strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note.
The strategists, however, warned that “a convergence in volatilities between Bitcoin and gold is unlikely to happen quickly and is in our mind a multiyear process.”
Bitcoin was trading above $35,000 on Wednesday morning, according to Coin Metrics data.
