Stocks opened with modest gains and have shown little movement outside of a tight range during the morning session. There were several economic data points released during the morning, but they had little effect on the market. Oil prices are slightly lower, though they remain near their 2 1/2 year high at close to $60 per barrel for WTI crude. Meanwhile, bitcoin is sliding again amid new headlines about a possible crackdown in South Korea. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the international trade deficit gapped out to $69.7B in November, leaving it at the widest since March 2015, after a surprise 6.5% jump in October. Exports rose 3.0% to $133.7B, while imports were up 2.7% to $203.4B. Initial jobless claims were unchanged at 245,000 in the week of December 23. The Chicago PMI rose 3.7 points to a reading of 67.6 for December. MARKET NEWS: Bitcoin and blockchain linked names – including Overstock (OSTK), Digital Power (DPW), Seven Stars Cloud Group (SSC), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Longfin (LFIN), Social Reality (SRAX) and Parateum (TEUM) – are trading lower and heading for a second straight down day as bitcoin extends its slide. Today’s weakness in the most popular cryptocurrency is being attributed to South Korea announcing the country would ban the use of anonymous virtual accounts in cryptocurrency transactions and could shut some exchanges if they do not comply. Near noon ET, bitcoin is down about 9% to trade near $13,900 per coin, according to data from Coindesk. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was vTv Therapeutics (VTVT), which jumped 47% after it was disclosed that investor Ronald Perelman bought an additional 50,000 shares of the company’s common stock on December 26. Also higher was GAIN Capital (GCAP), which gained 9% after being touted as an alternative cryptocurrency play by Mox Reports’ Richard Pearson. Among the noteworthy losers was Calumet Specialty Products (CLMT), which dropped 9% after reporting a $23.6M net loss for its fiscal third quarter. Also lower was J.B. Hunt (JBHT), which slid 2% after the company pre-announced a lower than expected earnings forecast for the fourth quarter. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 34.62, or 0.14%, to 24,808.92, the Nasdaq was up 7.62, or 0.11%, to 6,946.96, and the S&P 500 was up 1.84, or 0.07%, to 2,684.46.
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