What appeared to be a bad day in the crypto markets turned positive after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told his cabinet to start negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible. This came after NBC News reported that President Trump had asked Netanyahu to reduce bombing in Lebanon as it threatened the ceasefire announced Monday.
Bitcoin quickly rose around 3% when the news hit, now trading at $72,300, up 2% in the last 24 hours. US stocks also reversed modest early losses, with the Nasdaq now gaining 0.65%. After rising to nearly $103 per barrel earlier in the day, WTI crude oil quickly retreated to $98.60.
Bitcoin is notably outperforming other major cryptocurrencies, with ether (ETH), solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP) up over 1%.
Continued divergence with software stocks
Firmly linked in recent months, bitcoin and software stocks continued to diverge on Thursday. The iShares Expanded Technology Software ETF (IGV) fell 4%, approaching a key support level around $76, a level it has tested and recovered from several times.
Over the past month, bitcoin is up 9%, while IGV is down 12%.
On a 20-day moving average basis, the correlation coefficient between Bitcoin and IGV has fallen to a relatively low level of 0.34, reinforcing the recent divergence in their price movements.
