Stocks Mostly Rise After Earnings As Bitcoin Hits Record

Global stock markets mostly rose Wednesday, while bitcoin scored a record a day after a new security linked to the digital currency premiered on Wall Street.

The Dow and S&P 500 finished just shy of all-time highs following another round of mostly good corporate earnings from Verizon, Netflix and other companies.

European equities also rose, while oil prices continued to march higher.

Bitcoin soared above $66,000 and nearly hit $67,000 a day after a financial instrument dedicated to the unit made a successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Bitcoin Strategy ETF, a new exchange-traded fund linked to bitcoin futures rather than directly to the currency, rose another 3.2 percent in its second session.

"Interest in bitcoin in the wake of yesterday's new ETF launch has helped to push the cryptocurrency to a new record high," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

Known for its volatility -- bitcoin lost half of its value after setting its previous record in April -- it has now gained more than 50 percent over the last month and an astonishing 450 percent over the past year.

This week's stellar gains have also sparked talk of hitting $100,000 in the coming months.

Meanwhile, equity markets also were on the upswing for the most part.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to end at 4,536.19, less than a point from an all-time high.

A report by the Federal Reserve said transport constraints and shortage of goods caused "significantly elevated prices" in most areas of the United States, slowing economic growth.

But with the latest batch of corporate results, investors are becoming more confident that higher consumer prices will not derail the recovery.

"We believe that the stock market has more to climb in this bull market and that some of the Covid headwinds are receding," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.

While inflation is rising, it means "many companies continue to have pricing power, which should preserve corporate profits," he said, a dynamic mentioned in the Fed's beige book report on the economy.

Still, worries about rising prices and the end of central bank largesse have not been banished.

British annual inflation cooled slightly in September, according to official data, but remained close to a nine-year peak.

Analysts still expect the Bank of England to next month raise its main interest rate from a record-low level of 0.1 percent.

With the US economy on the recovery track and inflation surging the Federal Reserve is preparing to scale back the vast financial support put in place at the start of the pandemic AFP / Daniel SLIM

While some countries already started the tightening cycle, all eyes are on the Fed owing to its oversized role in the global economy. The US central bank is expected to announce next month that it will start of tapering its bond purchases in late November or December.

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 35,609.34 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 4,536.19 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.1 percent at 15,121.68 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,223.10 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP less than 0.1 percent at 15,522.92 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 6,705.61 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.1 percent at 4,172.17 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 29,255.55 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 26,136.02 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,587.00 (close)

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 114.33 from 114.38 yen at 2100 GMT

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1654 from $1.1633