Finance

Market speculation picks up to start 2025 as crypto stocks jump

Published

2 days ago

January 2, 2025

Business Finance News

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 31, 2024.

NYSE

Crypto trades jumping. Roaring Kitty boosting meme stocks. Broader market ripping on no apparent catalysts.

Animal spirits are on the run at the dawn of 2025 trading.

Many speculative pockets of the stock market surged in early trading Thursday, the first session of the new year, right after the S&P 500 closed out the best two-year run since 1998.

Stocks tied to the price of bitcoin jumped as the cryptocurrency climbed back over $96,000. Microstrategy added 4% premarket after climbing more than 360% in 2024. Crypto-related companies Coinbase, Robinhood, Mara Holdings and Riot Platforms also traded higher after a big 2024.

Elsewhere, retail traders active on social media were busy playing a guessing game after online personality Roaring Kitty posted another cryptic message on X of a short clip of the late musician Rick James. Some believe the meme stock leader, AKA Keith Gill, was referring to Unity Software, whose stock soared 10% in premarket, while others think he’s back touting his original favorite GameStop, whose shares also caught a bid in premarket.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks — 2024’s big winners — helped lead the market again after the artificial intelligence trade lost some steam at the end of last year. Broadcom jumped 2% Thursday, while Nvidia gained 1.6%.

What’s more, golf stock Topgolf Callaway Brands jumped 8.5% on the back of an upgrade at Jefferies to buy from hold. The investment bank said shares of the golf equipment maker looked oversold and raised its price target to 65% above where the stock closed the year.

With a pickup in market speculation, broad stock futures were on the rise to kick off 2025. Dow futures advanced as much as 300 points. S&P 500 futures added 0.8%, and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 1%.

Thursday’s dramatic moves resembled the initial rallies on the back of Donald Trump’s election victory in November, as investors bet his pro-business policies would drive companies and the economy to strong growth. Those gains slowed toward the end of 2024 as concern grew that the president-elect’s protectionist policies could stir inflation or disrupt chains, and as the Federal Reserve signaled fewer interest rate cuts in 2025.

“Many investors assume that the incoming administration’s push for deregulation will unleash ‘animal spirits,'” Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a recent note to clients. “But what if it only accelerates the concentration of monopoly power in the hands of a few, diluting the efficacy of broad economic measures and leaving behind even larger swaths of the populace?”

Finance

RIVN, BUD, F and more

Published

1 day ago

January 3, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

X, CVNA, SQ and more

Published

1 day ago

January 3, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

Ken Griffin’s flagship hedge fund at Citadel climbs 15.1% in 2024

Published

2 days ago

January 2, 2025

Business Finance News

Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, speaks during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Billionaire investor Ken Griffin’s handful of hedge funds at Citadel all posted double-digit returns in 2024, led by its tactical trading strategy.

Citadel’s multistrategy Wellington fund, its largest, finished the year up 15.1%, according to a person familiar with the returns. All five strategies used in the flagship fund — commodities, equities, fixed income, credit and quantitative — were positive for the year, the person said.

The Miami-based firm’s tactical trading fund was the standout performer with a 22.3% return for 2024, the person said. Citadel’s equity fund returned roughly 18%, while its global fixed income strategy gained 9.7% last year.

Citadel declined to comment. The hedge fund giant had $66 billion in assets under management as of December.

The stock market just closed out a banner year with the S&P 500 surging 23.3%, building on a gain of 24.2% in 2023. The two-year gain of 53% is the best since the nearly 66% rally in 1997 and 1998.

Griffin recently criticized the steep tariffs President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to implement, saying crony capitalism could be a consequence.

The CEO also said he’s not focused on taking Citadel Securities public in the foreseeable future. The securities firm is a Miami-based market maker founded by the 56-year-old Florida native in 2002.