Overnight US stocks | The three major stock indexes had mixed ups and downs this week, and spot silver broke through $67 to set a new historical record

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Friday, the three major indices rose, leading the way in technology stocks. The three major US stock indexes had mixed ups and downs this week. The Dow dropped 0.67% over the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.48%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.11%.

[US stocks] At the close, the Dow rose 183.04 points, or 48134.89; the NASDAQ rose 301.26 points, or 1.31%, to 23307.62 points; and the S&P 500 rose 59.82 points, or 0.88%, to 6834.58 points. Oracle (ORCL.US) rose more than 6.6%, Nvidia (NVDA.US) rose more than 3.9%, Circle (CRCL.US) rose more than 6%, and Strategy (MSTR.US) rose more than 4%.

[European stocks] The German DAX30 index rose 92.47 points, or 0.38%, to 24289.47 points; the British FTSE 100 index rose 57.15 points, or 0.58%, to 9894.92 points; the French CAC40 index rose 0.74 points, or 0.01%, to 8151.38 points; the Eurostock 50 index rose 17.44 points, or 0.30%, to 5759.15 points; Spain's IBEX35 index rose 36.47 points, or 0.21%, to report 17169.07 points; Italy's FTSE MIB index rose 270.22 points, or 0.61%, to 44733.50 points.

[Asia Pacific Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 Index rose more than 1%, South Korea's KOSPI Index rose 0.65%, and the Indonesian Composite Index fell 0.1%.

[Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose more than 2.9% and returned above 88,000 US dollars; Ethereum rose more than 5% and broke through 3,000 US dollars during the intraday period.

[Precious Metals] Spot gold rose 0.14% to $4338.48. Spot silver broke through 67 US dollars/ounce, setting a new historical record, rising 2.38% during the day. The New York Stock Exchange rose 3.00% during the day and is now reported at $67.18 per ounce.

[Crude oil] WTI futures for February rose 0.9%, and the settlement price was $56.52 per barrel. January futures expire on Friday, and Brent futures for February rose 1.1%, and the settlement price was $60.47 per barrel. Since this year, oil prices have dropped by about one-fifth. The reason is that OPEC+ production is increasing at a faster pace than expected, producers in other regions are also increasing production, and demand performance is weak. Geopolitical risks, especially those surrounding supply from Russia and Venezuela, help mitigate the decline in oil prices, but if the Russian-Ukrainian conflict reaches a peace agreement and the risk of supply disruptions is eliminated, oil prices may fall further.

[Macro News]

Consumer confidence in the US has risen slightly, but budget concerns remain. The increase in the US consumer confidence index in December was lower than expected, and the index is still sluggish due to ongoing affordability concerns. According to a report released on Friday, the University of Michigan's final consumer confidence index for December rose 1.9 points to 52.9, and economists' median expectations of 53.5. “Despite some signs of improvement at the end of the year, consumer confidence was still nearly 30% lower than in December 2024 because economic conditions remain the primary concern for consumers,” said Joanne Hsu, head of the survey. The final value of the Current Status Index fell to a historic low of 50.4, while the Expectations Index rose to a four-month high. Consumers' perception of the current state of buying bulky items worsened to an all-time low.

Existing home sales in the US increased moderately in November. Existing home sales in the US rose slightly in November as economic uncertainty and still-high mortgage interest rates dampened demand. The American Association of Realtors NAR said on Friday that existing home sales increased 0.5% last month, and the seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate was 4.13 million units. The association also indicated that there has been a decrease in the number of sellers listing homes for sale. Economists forecast that existing home sales will increase to 4.15 million units, down 1.0% year over year.

Federal Reserve Governor Milan reiterated that interest rates should be cut to deal with job market risks. Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Milan reiterated on Friday that since inflation has cooled down and monetary policy needs to offset job market risks, the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates. Milan said the job market is slowing down. “If we continue to develop in this direction and we fail to fully adjust our policies to contain it, we will be in trouble by 2027.” Milan is one of the most staunch supporters of interest rate cuts within the Federal Reserve. At the US Federal Reserve meeting last week, he voted against cutting interest rates by 50 basis points, while most of his colleagues preferred a smaller 25 basis point cut. His term at the Federal Reserve ends on January 31.

The Federal Reserve plans to set up new accounts, and cryptocurrencies are one step closer to the payment system. On December 19, in the context of cryptocurrency and fintech companies actively seeking access to central bank payment systems, the Federal Reserve proposed the establishment of a new type of payment account. Under the plan, eligible institutions can use such accounts to clear and settle payments. The regulator said the account will be distinguished from a “Master Account” (Master Account). The main account is a system that financial institutions dream of to obtain various payment services provided by the Federal Reserve.

[Individual Stock News]

The US FTC approved Nvidia (NVDA.US)'s $5 billion investment in Intel (INTC.US). The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Nvidia's investment in Intel, but did not disclose specific details of the deal. In September of this year, Nvidia announced that it would invest 5 billion US dollars in troubled Intel. This move is seen as an important support for the local semiconductor industry. However, the deal also raised market concerns about changes in the competitive landscape, which in particular could pose potential risks to major rivals TSMC and AMD.

Klarna (KLAR.US) reached a partnership with Coinbase (COIN.US) to incorporate stablecoin financing into the financing source system. Klarna and Coinbase reached a partnership to incorporate stablecoin financing into the financing source system. Klarna's traditional financing sources include consumer deposits, long-term loans, and short-term commercial papers. The digital bank plans to raise short-term capital denominated in USDC (US dollar stablecoin) from institutional investors using Coinbase's native digital infrastructure. With the addition of USDC-denominated financing channels, Klarna was able to directly obtain financing similar to that of the US dollar and use this to reach out to a new group of institutional investors. “This is an exciting first step in exploring new forms of financing,” said Niclas Neglén (Niclas Neglén), Klarna's chief financial officer. “Stablecoins connect us to a new class of institutional investors and provide us with the possibility to diversify funding sources — a possibility that didn't exist at all a few years ago. This is just the beginning of digital assets collaborating with our traditional sources of financing.” Klarna chose to partner with Coinbase to advance this initiative because of its proven and proven experience in this field — Coinbase currently supports more than 260 businesses around the world with cryptocurrency infrastructure. This time, the channel for financing using stablecoins is still under development, and is independent of Klarna's cryptocurrency and stablecoin related businesses for consumers and merchants. Klarna plans to continue to steadily advance its cryptocurrency business for consumers and merchants in 2026.

[Major Bank Ratings]

Citi lowered its target share prices for some crypto stocks, and still listed Circle, Bullish, and Coinbase as top choices. Wall Street Bank Citigroup has updated its digital asset stock report and lowered target share prices for some crypto stocks. The crypto market has generally declined recently, but it remains optimistic about this sector. Analyst Peter Christiansen and his team said in a Friday report: “Despite the recent increase in token volatility, we are optimistic about digital asset stocks.” Circle Financial (CRCL.US), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is still Citi's preferred stock, and the team reiterated its target price of $243, even though the stock recently dropped sharply to the current price of $83.60. Christiansen's next choice of stocks was Bullish (BLSH.US) and Coinbase (COIN.US). “We believe BLSH is well-positioned to benefit from increased participation from institutional investors (particularly the US) and traditional finance (TradFi),” he said. BLSH's target price was lowered from $77 to $67, but there is still considerable room for growth compared to the current $44. COIN's target price remains at $505, and the current share price is $245.12.