Daily summary: S&P 500 dips from record, while European stocks rise to 5-week highs

• European indexes close at record highs
• Mixed moods on Wall Street
• Bitcoin price returns below $50K

European indices finished today's session higher, with Frankfurt’s DAX jumped to a five-week high, while French CAC 40 reached fresh record level, as new study from South Africa pointed that omicron strain can help boost immunity to the earlier delta variant, while last week data showed lower hospitalization rates and milder cases in patients infected with the new variant. These news boosted travel & leisure, healthcare, and industrial stocks. 

Major Wall Street indices are swinging between gains and losses amid low liquidity and lack of any major economic releases. The S&P 500 erased early gains after hitting a fresh intraday high, the Dow Jones rose 0.20%, while the Nasdaq fell as much as 0.5%. Today's data showed the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index jumped in December, beating analysts’ expectations, with the prior reading revised higher, while growth in U.S. home prices declined for a third straight month in October. The economic calendar is almost empty for the rest of the week but stocks typically rise in the last days of the year, the so-called “Santa Claus rally”. 

When it comes to commodities markets, oil erased most of its early gains, however it is still trading in green, similar to precious metals which were hurt by the stronger dollar. Bitcoin again fell below the major psychological level of $50K, as the supply outside of exchange reserves hit an all-time high.  Meanwhile, Ethereum price dropped below $4K but is up more than 400% so far this year.

Unlike the S&P500 and Dow Jones, both small caps and tech stocks are trading under pressure today. US2000 failed to break above the 200 SMA (red line) and pulled back to major support at 2240 pts which is strengthened by 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave launched in August 2021. Source: xStation5