What appeared to be a tough day in crypto markets turned positive after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had asked his cabinet to begin negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible. This came after NBC News reported that President Trump had asked Netanyahu to reduce bombing in Lebanon because it threatened the ceasefire announced Monday.
Bitcoin quickly rose by around 3% when the news was announced, now trading at $72,300, up 2% in the last 24 hours. US stocks also reversed their modest initial losses, with the Nasdaq now ahead 0.65%. After surging to nearly $103 a barrel earlier in the day, WTI crude quickly returned to $98.60.
Bitcoin notably outperforms other crypto majors, with ether (ETH), solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) all higher by less than 1%.
Continued divergence with software titles
Strongly tied at the hip in recent months, the values of bitcoin and software continued to diverge on Thursday. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) fell 4%, approaching a key support level around $76, a level it has tested and rebounded 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.
