Morning Bid: Bitcoin’s clean break

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook

One bitcoin will now set you back six figures.

The cryptocurrency’s break above the $100,000 milestone has felt inevitable since Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president on a crypto-friendly platform. While it is just a number, it highlights how cryptos have carved out a place in modern financial markets.

Some commentators joked that perhaps a sales pitch from children and grandchildren around the Thanksgiving table was enough to get it past $100,000 – after investors in recent weeks repeatedly flinched near that threshold – although the real action came from big investors and big flows into new bitcoin ETFs.

The breakthrough also correlates with strength in stocks and the broader mood. Wall Street indexes made record highs on Wednesday as confidence grew about U.S. rate cuts, while sharp gains in German stocks seemed to defy the gloom enveloping Europe.

A crisis in France deepened on Wednesday when the parliament passed a no-confidence motion in the government for the first time since 1962. Erstwhile centres of stability in Germany, France, Japan and South Korea are now grappling with political turmoil.

French bond futures were steady in Asia, as were financial markets in South Korea, where a motion was introduced in parliament to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over a botched attempt at imposing martial law.

Broader unease over political upheavals is perhaps part of the lure behind cryptocurrency investments, as is a desire to hedge against some of the risks in traditional asset classes.

Politics aside, chief among data releases this week is Friday’s U.S. jobs report, where a strong reading could challenge market expectations for interest rate cuts. European retail sales data and German industrial orders will also be closely watched.

Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:

– Fallout from France’s no-confidence vote

– Eurozone retail sales

– German industrial orders

(By Tom Westbrook; Editing by Edmund Klamann)