Fears of War, Monkeypox Send Stocks, Crypto Markets to Coo as Precious Metal Spikes Higher – Market Updates Bitcoin News

The stock and cryptocurrency markets on Thursday saw volatility, after experiencing swings amid tensions between China and Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday. Major indices such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones and NYSE have lost a few percent today, while the global cryptocurrency market capitalization lost 2.5% in 24 hours, falling to just over $1.1 trillion. Precious metals, on the other hand, traded higher when US President Joe Biden’s administration declared the monkeypox virus a US public health emergency.

Tensions in China and Taiwan and reports of monkeypox send stocks and cryptocurrencies tumbling, precious metals markets rise and demand for safe havens picks up

Stock and crypto traders faced some headwinds on August 4, the day after California US Representative Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan to discuss democracy with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Global markets saw some swings before the US diplomat visited Taipei and during the visit on Wednesday as well.

Equity and precious metals markets fell the day before August 3, while the crypto economy managed to consolidate for another day. US stock markets took another dive on Thursday as the Dow Jones fell 85 points during the afternoon (EST). Cryptocurrencies followed the fall in stock markets during the day.

While the Nasdaq was up, the S&P 500, NYSE and many other stocks saw losses during the day. The crypto economy also saw losses, as the entire mass of digital assets today lost 2.5% in the last 24 hours against the US dollar.

The leading crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) fell 5% on Thursday afternoon from $23,548 to $22,395 in value. Ethereum (ETH) also lost 5% today after shedding a 24-hour high of $1,666 per unit to a low of $1,545 per coin. Of the top ten crypto market cap contenders, solana (SOL) lost the most on the day 5.6% and polkadot (DOT) lost 5.5%.

In Europe, the war between Ukraine and Russia is raging and the tension between China and Taiwan has escalated this week. While Asia deals with the tensions, Europe has an energy crisis and a recession. The US is also dealing with what many believe is a recession, although US bureaucrats and their experts have said otherwise.

On Thursday, the US Labor Department released the weekly jobless claims data, which showed that claims rose by 6,000 to 260,000. As the weekend approaches, stock traders have been interested in the US jobs report for July, due for release on Friday. A couple of hours before the closing bell on Thursday, some of the top Wall Street indexes such as the Dow and the S&P 500 rose slightly. By the end of Wall Street’s trading day on Thursday, three of the four major indexes were down.

Meanwhile, the gold and silver markets saw some relief on Thursday as both assets edged higher. The gold price per ounce jumped 1.64% while the silver value per ounce against the US dollar rose 1.04%. On August 4, Kitco’s Jim Wyckoff attributed the precious metals spike to tensions in Asia when he said gold and silver prices were higher in the US “on confident demand as China-Taiwan-US tensions have escalated this week.”

Further, on Thursday, reports detailed that the United States has officially declared the Monkeypox virus a public health emergency. Washington Post (WP) reporter Dan Diamond explained that “two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity” said the Biden administration will declare monkeypox an outbreak and a public health emergency. Diamond wrote that the message would originate from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra at the White House.

Following the report, Becerra ended up declaring monkeypox a public health emergency now in the United States, during an afternoon news briefing. “We are prepared to take our response to the next level to deal with this virus, and we urge all Americans to take monkeypox seriously,” the health secretary stressed to the press.

What do you think of the stock and crypto market action on Thursday, while gold and silver prices rose slightly? Let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial technology journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.