A meteoric rise in MicroStrategy’s shares has made the bitcoin hoarder a likely candidate for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index ahead of an annual reshuffle this week. The loss-making software company, an aggressive investor in the highly volatile cryptocurrency, has seen its shares soar nearly 500% this year, taking its market capitalization to $90 billion.
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart as the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by half a percentage point, as expected, but shifted to more hawkish guidance on prospects for additional easing.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index nudged higher, led by precious metal miners, after the U.S. inflation print came in line with expectations, boosting the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate cut next week. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, while the midcap FTSE 250 was flat.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet rose about 5% after it unveiled a new generation chip that the company said helped overcome a key challenge in quantum computing. The new chip is called Willow, and it solved in five minutes a computing problem that would take a classical computer more time than the history of the universe.
Google’s stock rose 0.9% in the last session. The ROC is giving a positive signal.
Support: 176.69 | Resistance: 192.19
The Canadian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart as oil prices rose, but the currency held near an earlier 4.5-year low as investors bet on another supersized interest rate cut this week from the Bank of Canada.
Microsoft shareholders voted against a resolution to add Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheets during the firm’s annual meeting. It was recommended that company uses between 1% and 5% of the firm’s profits to purchase Bitcoin. The board called the proposal “unnecessary” and said the company “already carefully considers this topic.”
