GoAI Market Morning Wrap - 2nd Dec

Stock Market  

Overnight and early this morning, after five consecutive gains, the U.S. stock market reverted to correction mode, with all three major indices closing lower. The Bank of Japan’s rate-hike signal triggered volatility across global bond markets, and the crypto sector — where sentiment is strongest — suffered the most significant losses.  

 

At the close, the S&P 500 fell 0.53% to 6,812.63 points; the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.38% to 23,275.92 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 47,289.33 points.  

 

Although U.S. stocks rose for several days last week, November still ended the winning streak of U.S. tech giants that had lasted since April this year. The weak opening on the first day of December shows that investors have yet to shake off valuation concerns about tech leaders.  

 

Adding insult to injury, Monday saw a clear chain of pessimistic sentiment transmission: Japanese bonds → cryptocurrencies → U.S. stocks.  

 

After BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda hinted on Monday at a possible rate hike this month, Japan’s highly rate-sensitive 2-year government bond yield jumped above 1% for the first time since 2008. Influenced by this, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield surged nearly 8 basis points to 4.09% on Monday — the largest single-day rise in over a month — while the German 10-year yield rose 6 basis points. Rising bond yields indicate that bonds are facing selling pressure.  

 

When bond markets are unstable, risk assets inevitably take a hit. Bitcoin plunged intraday from $90,000 to a low of $83,800 before gradually recovering to $86,000.  

 

HSBC chief multi-asset strategist Max Kettner commented that today’s U.S. stock pullback is related to the sharp drop in crypto assets. The growing correlation between cryptocurrencies and other high-risk assets including stocks has become a prominent feature of recent trading sessions.  

 

However, Kettner also questioned: “Setting aside short-term sentiment, we strongly doubt there is any causal relationship between crypto assets and equities… crypto has zero impact on inflation, rates, economic growth, or corporate earnings prospects.”  

Global Hotspots  

WHO: GLP-1 weight-loss drugs open a “new chapter” in the global fight against obesity  

 

On Monday local time, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that drugs such as Mounjaro have enormous potential in addressing the global obesity crisis, with an estimated 2 billion people projected to be affected by obesity by 2030.

 

Given the remarkable weight-loss efficacy of these drugs, this means health systems worldwide are entering a “new chapter” in treating obesity and the fatal diseases it causes.  

 

Trump-Netanyahu call: Trump invites Israeli PM to visit the U.S.  

 

On December 1 local time, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying that Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke by phone with U.S. President Trump that evening.

 

The statement said the two leaders emphasized the importance and obligations of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, and discussed matters related to expanding peace agreements.  

Corporate News  

Nvidia invests in Synopsys  

 

Nvidia announced on Monday an expanded strategic partnership with EDA company Synopsys and a $2 billion investment in its common shares. Boosted by the news, Synopsys shares jumped over 11% pre-market and closed up 4.85%.  

 

Power grab! Disney hiring energy trader  

 

According to a job posting on its official website, Disney is recruiting a full-time energy trader to be based in Orlando, Florida. The role involves providing short-term power forecasts and generation resource analysis for the Reedy Creek Improvement District (which includes Walt Disney World Resort) and securing favorable pricing by purchasing electricity on an hourly or daily basis.  

 

AWS and Google Cloud launch interconnected service  

 

Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud jointly launched a new service on Monday that allows customers to instantly establish high-speed connections between the two cloud platforms. The companies said that previously, customers wanting connections between AWS and Google Cloud had to spend weeks or months manually configuring network hardware, but the new multi-cloud networking service enables such connections in minutes.  

 

Amazon also said it will launch an interconnection service with Microsoft Azure late next year.  

 

Nvidia releases open-source models for autonomous vehicle development  

 

On Monday local time, Nvidia released new artificial intelligence tools for speech, safety, and autonomous driving. Among them is the “vision-language-action” AI model Alpamayo-R1 for self-driving vehicles, which can translate information collected on the road into natural-language descriptions. For example, if the vehicle “sees” a bike lane, it will record: “Detected bike lane and adjusting route accordingly.”  

 

Barrick Gold considering spinning off North American gold assets for listing  

 

The latest reports on Monday say that global third-largest gold producer Barrick Gold is considering separately listing its North American gold mining business, involving mines in Nevada and the Dominican Republic that account for roughly half of its total output.

 

The company recently experienced sudden senior departures and welcomed activist investor Elliott as a shareholder. The market believes the value of its high-quality Nevada assets is not fully reflected, making a spin-off listing a key means to enhance valuation.  

Forex & Commodities  

Spot silver hit a fresh all-time high on Monday, pushing its year-to-date gain to 100%.

 

However, some analysts warn that with the gold-silver ratio falling to multi-year lows, the recent silver rally is more related to “fast-money short squeezes.” International oil prices also strengthened after OPEC+ confirmed over the weekend that it would pause production increases.  

 

International oil prices rose on December 1. At the close, the front-month WTI crude oil futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $0.96 to $59.51 per barrel, up 1.64%.  

 

COMEX gold futures front-month contract rose $10.10, or 0.24%, to $4,265.0 per ounce.  

 

Spot silver rose 2.8% to $57.99 per ounce. COMEX silver futures front-month contract rose $1.287, or 2.25%, to $58.45 per ounce.  

 

At the New York close, the ICE Dollar Index fell 0.05% to 99.402 points. The Bloomberg Dollar Index was roughly flat at 1,217.91 points.  

Key Events  

Sources: OPEC+ may reach agreement on mechanism to assess members’ maximum capacity  

 

Sources say OPEC+ may reach agreement on a mechanism to assess members’ maximum capacity. OPEC+ is expected to keep its Q1 2026 oil production policy unchanged at Sunday’s meeting.  

Cryptocurrency  

Bitcoin 24h -0.68% to $86,513.04.  

 

Ethereum (ETH-USD) -1.51% to $2,793.78.  

 

XRP (XRP-USD) -2.26%, BNB (BNB-USD) -1.33%, Solana (SOL-USD) -0.56%.  

 

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) -2.68%, Cardano (ADA-USD) -1.21%.  

Key Events  

Strategy Establishes $1.44 Billion USD Reserve, Slashes 2025 Bitcoin Targets Amid Market Downturn  

 

Strategy Inc. announced Monday the establishment of a $1.44 billion U.S. dollar reserve to support dividend payments on its preferred stock, while significantly cutting its full-year 2025 profit and bitcoin yield targets amid sharp declines in cryptocurrency prices.  

 

The bitcoin treasury company, led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, funded the reserve through sales of 8.214 million shares of Class A common stock between Nov. 17 and Nov. 30, which generated $1.478 billion in net proceeds. The company also disclosed a modest purchase of 130 bitcoins during the same period for $11.7 million, bringing its total holdings to 650,000 BTC acquired for $48.38 billion.