Nasdaq, Dow, S&P 500 hit pause on rally as jobs data looms, bitcoin tops $100,000

US stocks have led the equity market in recent years and strategists at BlackRock’s Investment Institute don’t see that narrative changing in 2025.

“Currently, across all the scenarios in the outlook, the platform is gravitating towards the US corporate strength scenario, which is another way of calling for US exceptionalism,” BlackRock Investment Institute chief investment strategist Wei Li said during a media roundtable on Wednesday.

Li cited stronger earnings growth seen in the US this year and the expectation that earnings growth will continue to broaden outside of the “Magnificent Seven” names that have powered the stock market higher over the last two years. This view has been a common refrain from Wall Street firms offering bullish outlooks for 2025 over the last month.

“Earnings is almost everything when it comes to longer-term equity returns,” Li said, adding the strongest revisions for next year have come from the US and Japan, where BlackRock is also overweight equities.

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Disney (DIS) increased its cash dividend by 33% to $1.00 a share late Wednesday, a sign of confidence from the company after its streaming business built on recent momentum and swung to a profit in its latest quarterly report.

The dividend will be paid in two installments of $0.50 a share on Jan. 16 and July 23, 2025, to shareholders of record as of Dec. 16, 2024, and June 24, 2025, respectively.

“It’s been a highly successful year for The Walt Disney Company, stemming from the extensive strategic work across the company to improve quality, innovation, efficiency, and value creation,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a press release.

“With the company operating from a renewed position of strength, we are pleased to increase the dividend for shareholders while continuing to invest for the future and drive sustained growth through Disney’s world-class portfolio of assets.”

Disney shares have climbed about 29% since the start of the year, slightly outpacing the 27% gain of the S&P 500 (^GSPC) over that same time period.

It’s the milestone crypto enthusiasts have been waiting for: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices have officially crossed $100,000 a token. The achievement occurred late Wednesday, and prices rose again to just around $103,000 a coin early Thursday.

Bitcoin has rallied significantly since the election of Donald Trump, with the administration viewed as generally more friendly to the alternative asset class.

In July, Trump attended a bitcoin conference in Nashville and has since pledged to usher in more supportive regulation. The most recent appointment of Paul Atkins as the next SEC chair supports that push — and likely served as the catalyst for the latest price action.

“This is very, very bullish news for digital asset markets,” Perianne Boring, founder of advocacy group The Digital Chamber, told Yahoo Finance’s Morning Brief on Thursday. “For many, many years, the industry has really been against significant regulatory headwinds by the SEC as well as the CFTC. … [Atkins] has been on the frontlines helping to address the regulatory uncertainty.”

Trump praised the crypto moves early Thursday, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, “CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!!”

US stocks floated higher on Thursday as investors waited for Friday’s crucial jobs report and bitcoin (BTC-USD) posted new all-time highs above the key $100,000 milestone.

After all three major averages closed at records on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) were barely in positive territory. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was up more than 0.1%.

Weekly jobless claims just rose more than expected.

New data from the Department of Labor showed 224,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending Nov. 30, up from 215,000 the week prior and above the 215,000 economists had expected. Claims had been at a seven-month low prior to last week’s increase.

Meanwhile, the number of continuing applications for unemployment benefits fell to 1.87 million, down from a prior reading of 1.89 million.

Economic data: Challenger jobs cuts (November); Initial jobless claims (week ending Nov. 30)

Earnings: BMO (BMO), Build-a-Bear Workshop (BBW), Dollar General (DG), DocuSign (DOCU), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Kroger (KR), Lululemon (LULU), Petco (WOOF), TD Bank (TD), Ulta Beauty (ULTA)

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