Gold Hits New Record While Crypto Prices Remain Muted as U.S. Stocks Advance
Gold reached a new record high of $4,475 per ounce, up about 2%, while silver rose to a fresh high just below $70 per ounce, an increase of roughly 1.6%. Meanwhile, major U.S. stock indexes advanced with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both up approximately 0.6%, and the U.S. dollar index declined by about 0.3%.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin briefly topped $90,000 during Asian and European trading sessions but settled around $89,000 as the U.S. session began. Despite gains, Bitcoin underperformed other assets over the past 24 hours. Ether was near $3,029, Solana at $126.77, and XRP at $1.93, all showing fluctuations relative to recent intraday highs but generally pulling back before the U.S. market opened.
AI-focused crypto miners experienced a rally: Hut 8 increased by 17.5%, while IREN, Cipher Mining, and Bitfarms rose between 5% and 10%. In related technology developments, Alphabet announced its intention to acquire AI infrastructure startup Intersect for $4.75 billion to enhance data-center and generation capacity, aiming to accelerate energy development and innovation.
Analysts at ByteTree noted that Bitcoin may struggle to outperform until the ongoing gold bull market cools down. They also observed that silver's rally nearly matches Bitcoin's eight-year return. The current rally in precious metals has been cited as a factor suppressing cryptocurrencies, even as risk assets continue to rise.
