Must read: Standard Chartered, Federal Reserve, cryptocurrencies

Cryptoassets are very high risk and you should be prepared to lose all your money before you invest

• Bitcoin and crypto stocks: examining the risk

GLOBAL MARKETS 

After a volatile week for markets, European indices have opened higher with the FTSE 100 staging gains. Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN) is trading near the top of the UK index after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight and raised its target price.

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Defence stocks, however, such as Rheinmetall AG (XETRA:RHM), BAE Systems (LSE:BA.) and Babcock International Group (LSE:BAB) are under pressure as the US and Ukraine make progress towards a peace plan.

Elsewhere, BHP Group Ltd (LSE:BHP) walked away from a takeover approach for Anglo American (LSE:AAL) and advertisers S4 Capital (LSE:SFOR) and M&C Saatchi (LSE:SAA) both issued profit warnings sending shares sharply lower. 

Focus is on what to expect from the Autumn Budget on Wednesday as the Chancellor struggles to get to grips with the government’s debt pile. Meanwhile, Sky News is reporting that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is planning to downgrade its growth forecasts for 2026 and the remaining years of this parliament. 

Japanese markets are closed for a holiday, yet wider Asian equities are in an upbeat mood amid hopes of a Fed rate cut in December. 

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US futures are pointing higher with the Nasdaq on track to open up 1% ahead of a quieter Thanksgiving holiday week. Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s market cap reached $3.6 trillion (£2.8 trillion), surpassing Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s at $3.5 trillion, partly thanks to Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B (NYSE:BRK.B)’s investment in Google’s parent company.

Wall Street ended the week on a positive note supported by comments from New York Fed President John Williams who hinted at further rate cuts, helping to lift the market’s probability of a December rate cut to over 60%. Goldman Sachs expects a rate cut next month followed by two further reductions in March and June.

CRYPTO SELL-OFF 

Bitcoin is trading around $87,000 having shed more than 20% over the past month. It is on track for its worst monthly performance since 2022. According to Bloomberg, around half a trillion dollars has been wiped off bitcoin’s value.  

After a volatile week for stock markets, with investor jitters soothed mid-week by NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s blockbuster earnings report, bitcoin hit fresh lows on Friday plunging towards support at $80,000. It has attempted to stage a rebound over the weekend although there is growing concern that it could fall past $80,000. A break below this technical support level could provide further fuel to the crypto bears, adding to downside pressure.  

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The speculative asset is highly sensitive to risk sentiment and with growing fears of a market crash or correction amid the lofty valuations seen within tech and AI, bitcoin has found itself in the firing line with many investors liquidating their bitcoin holdings. Only last month, bitcoin hit an all-time high about $126,000 but it has since shed almost a third of its value. SoSoValue estimates that four-week bitcoin ETF outflows have hit $4.34 billion.  

This year was meant to be the year of the bitcoin bulls supported by a highly crypto friendly administration in the White House and President Donald Trump’s ‘less is more’ approach towards regulation. And while the first 10 months were positive on the whole, November has been extremely challenging in what’s contributing to what might be a rather punitive end to 2025 for the crypto bros.