Bitcoin edged higher at Tuesday's Wall Street open while markets waited on the US midterm elections. Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter said stocks are pricing in political gridlock, and oil fell to its lowest level since Oct. 15.
Bitcoin (BTC) edged 0.7% higher on Tuesday as US equities avoided succumbing to uncertainty over the midterm elections. Bitcoin headed higher at the Wall Street open amid a tech-stock rebound.
TradingView data showed BTC/USD circling $77,000, still holding local lows near $76,300 seen on Friday.
Stocks weigh Apple guidance and election odds
Stocks faced conflicting forces at the start of the session. Apple shares fell 4% in premarket trading as the company forecast gross margin of 45% to 46% for the December quarter, down from 47.9% in the previous quarter, citing rising memory-chip costs.
Markets also weighed how the midterms could shift the balance of power in Congress. Polls suggested significant Democratic gains, but some analysts cautioned that the results could be less decisive than expected.
Tobin Marcus of Wolfe Research told CNBC that investors seem skeptical the outcome will be as favorable to Democrats as polling suggests. Wolfe added that polls were likely overstating Democratic strength.
Kobeissi Letter sees political gridlock priced in
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished Monday down 0.5% and 1.1%, respectively. Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter argued that US political uncertainty, rather than concerns over AI spending alone, was driving the weakness.
The analysis suggested that a divided Congress could lead to frequent legislative impasses, making policy decisions less predictable. According to The Kobeissi Letter on X: "Objectively, the market is in the process of pricing-in two years of political gridlock."
Oil slips despite fresh US strike on Iran
Oil prices, meanwhile, brushed off a US attack on Iran's Qeshm Island, a key military control outpost for the Strait of Hormuz oil route. WTI crude dipped to $93.59 per barrel, its lowest level since Oct. 15.
The strike followed comments from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that President Donald Trump was open to resolving the US-Iran war diplomatically, which triggered a 7% drop in WTI on Monday. WTI initially jumped to $98.80 per barrel before dipping below $94 on Tuesday.
Source: Cointelegraph
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