Bitget UEX Daily | Hopes for Middle East Peace Rise; Nasdaq Sets Record 12-Day Winning Streak; Anthropic Releases New AI Model (April 17, 2026)

I. Key Headlines

Federal Reserve Dynamics

Democrats Unite to Delay Walsh Fed Chair Nomination Hearing

• President Trump’s nominee for Fed Chair, Walsh, was scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee next Tuesday, but all 11 Democratic members jointly sent a letter on Thursday requesting that the hearing be postponed until investigations into current Chair Powell and Governor Cook are completed.
• The move significantly lowers the probability that Walsh will be confirmed before Powell’s term ends on May 15. Market impact: Increased uncertainty around the Fed leadership transition has begun to weigh on policy continuity expectations, putting short-term pressure on bond yields and the dollar.

International Commodities

Middle East Ceasefire Takes Effect Alongside US-Iran Nuclear Talks Progress, Pressuring Oil Prices

• On April 16, President Trump announced that Lebanon and Israel had reached a 10-day ceasefire agreement; Israel accepted the ceasefire but refused to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon. At the same time, the US-Iran nuclear issue saw a “breakthrough,” with Trump stating that Iran had agreed to abandon nuclear weapons and hand over related facilities, and that US-Iran negotiations may resume this weekend.
• Iran has not yet issued an official response, but market optimism over regional de-escalation has risen sharply. Market impact: Geopolitical risk premium has declined markedly, easing concerns over supply disruptions and pushing international oil prices lower, which is positive for global risk-asset pricing.

Macro Economic Policy

Money Market Funds Post Record Single-Day Outflow

• Data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI) showed money market fund assets fell to $7.64 trillion, with a single-day net outflow of $175.81 billion — the largest on record.
• The outflow appears to reflect institutional investors accelerating allocations into equities and other risk assets amid fresh all-time highs in US stocks. Market impact: Liquidity continues to shift toward higher-risk assets such as stocks and crypto, further supporting sustained risk appetite.

II. Market Review

Commodities Forex Performance

• Spot Gold: Approximately $4,800/oz, up 0.13% slightly.
• Spot Silver: $78.80/oz, up 0.37% slightly.
• WTI Crude: $89.80/barrel, down approximately 1.55%.
• Brent Crude: $98.00/barrel, down approximately 1.40%.
• US Dollar Index: 98.213, slightly weaker.

Cryptocurrency Performance

• BTC: 24H up approximately 0.23%, currently around $75,000. Middle East peace expectations are boosting risk assets, with price consolidating in the $74,000–$75,000 range.
• ETH: 24H up approximately 0.57%, currently around $2,350, tracking the broader market rebound while remaining in its recent consolidation range.
• Total Crypto Market Cap: 24H up approximately 0.8%, now approximately $2.63 trillion. Risk appetite recovery is driving a broad rebound; notably, ORDI has surged over 500% in just three days.
• Market Liquidations: 24H total liquidations approximately $4.36 billion; long liquidations approximately $2.00 billion, short liquidations approximately $2.30 billion — long/short leverage remains relatively balanced.
• Bitget BTC/USDT Liquidation Heatmap: Current price near the critical $75k level. Dense short liquidation clusters between $75k–$77k; a breakout could easily trigger cascading short squeezes. Long positions below have largely been cleared, so pullbacks lack fresh liquidation fuel and the short-term structure remains biased higher.

• Spot ETF Net Flows: BTC spot ETFs recorded a net outflow of $55.6 million yesterday; ETH spot ETFs saw a net outflow of approximately $12.5 million.
• BTC Spot Flows: Yesterday inflows approximately $23.02 billion, outflows approximately $23.09 billion, net outflow approximately $70 million.

US Stock Index Performance

• Dow Jones: Up 0.24%, closing at 48,578.72 points, extending modest gains.
• SP 500: Up 0.26%, closing at 7,041.28 points, hitting another all-time high.
• Nasdaq: Up 0.36%, closing at 24,102.7 points, recording a 12-day winning streak since March 31 — matching the longest streak since 2009.

Tech Giants Performance

• NVIDIA: Down 0.26% at $198.35, with strong AI-chip demand offset by profit-taking pressure.
• Alphabet-A: Down 0.33% at $336.02, supported by steady search and cloud businesses but moving in line with the broader index.
• Apple: Down 1.14% at $263.40, weighed by consumer electronics demand concerns.
• Microsoft: Up 2.2% at $420.26, gaining on recognition of its cloud services and AI strategy.
• Amazon: Up 0.48% at $249.70, underpinned by solid e-commerce and AWS performance.
• Broadcom: Up 0.44% at $398.72, supported by AI server chip demand.
• Meta: Up 0.79% at $676.87, lifted by advertising recovery and AI investment expectations.

Sector Rotation Highlights

Lithium Battery Sector up over 8%

• Leading stocks: Albemarle surged 16.31%, Sigma Lithium rose 13.61%.
• Key driver: Easing energy uncertainty from the Middle East de-escalation, combined with improving global EV supply-chain expectations, has drawn fresh capital into lithium resource names.

Optical Communication Sector up over 6%

• Leading stocks: Applied Optoelectronics +10.36%, Lumentum +8.16%, Coherent +6.42% and hit new highs.
• Key driver: Accelerated AI data-center buildout continues to drive explosive demand for high-speed optical modules and lasers, fueling rotation across the supply chain.

III. In-Depth Stock Analysis

1. TSMC – Strong Earnings Followed by Post-Market Pullback

Event Summary: TSMC delivered robust quarterly results, with AI-chip demand pushing revenue well above expectations, yet the stock still fell 3.13% in after-hours trading. Markets remain focused on capital expenditure plans and geopolitical exposure. Market Interpretation: Institutions view the move largely as short-term profit-taking, while long-term AI server order visibility remains high and valuations attractive. Investment Insight: The AI capex cycle is still in its early stage; as the world’s leading foundry, TSMC offers high earnings visibility — worth watching for buying opportunities on any further pullback.

2. Tesla – Cybertruck Internal Sales Represent Significant Share

Event Summary: In Q4, roughly 18-20% of Cybertruck deliveries came from internal purchases by Musk-owned companies, highlighting its strategic role within the corporate ecosystem. Market Interpretation: Analysts note the short-term boost to delivery numbers but emphasize that sustained external demand will ultimately validate the product’s competitiveness. Investment Insight: Cybertruck serves as Tesla’s electric-pickup beachhead; internal purchases signal strong corporate conviction — monitor conversion of future external orders.

3. Albemarle – Lithium Sector Breakout Leader

Event Summary: Shares jumped 16.31% in a single session, leading the broader lithium battery rally. Market Interpretation: Institutions highlight that Middle East peace expectations are lowering energy-cost pressure, while rising global EV penetration is re-igniting tight lithium supply/demand forecasts. Investment Insight: Lithium price rebound logic from the cycle bottom appears intact; as a global leader in lithium production, Albemarle’s earnings elasticity is noteworthy.

4. Applied Optoelectronics – Optical Communication Momentum

Event Summary: Shares rose 10.36%, with multiple names in the sector following higher. Market Interpretation: Surging demand for high-speed optical modules from AI data centers has dramatically improved order visibility across the supply chain. Investment Insight: Against the backdrop of AI capex exceeding expectations, the optical communication chain remains in a high-growth phase — keep close track of order execution.

5. Netflix – Q1 Beats Expectations but Q2 Guidance Disappoints

Event Summary: Q1 revenue and user growth both exceeded forecasts, yet Q2 guidance fell short of consensus; co-founder Hastings also announced a gradual step-back from management. Market Interpretation: Institutions see content-cost discipline and advertising growth as the long-term positives, while the leadership transition may introduce short-term uncertainty. Investment Insight: In an intensifying streaming competition environment, Netflix must continue proving the effectiveness of its pricing and content strategy — watch user growth and ARPU trends closely.

IV. Cryptocurrency Project Updates

1. Glassnode analyst CryptoViz.art noted that it is still premature to declare the start of a new Bitcoin bull market. Bitcoin’s realized market value stands at $78,013, and the current price remains below this level, leaving active holders in loss territory. Since Bitcoin first dipped below this level on January 31, it has now been 75 consecutive days, with an approximate 5% unrealized loss. Historical cycles in 2018 and 2022 saw bottoms form between the 5th and 9th months. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s market capitalization continues to see capital outflows. CryptoQuant analyst and Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. pointed out that the 365-day growth rate of market cap relative to realized cap has stayed negative across all 105 trading days in 2026, indicating insufficient new capital inflow to support higher prices. Year-to-date, realized market cap has declined from $1.12 trillion to $1.08 trillion, a 3.23% drop. Although recent indicators have improved slightly, Adler Jr. emphasized this only signals a slowing of outflows rather than a bullish reversal.
2. Onchain Lens monitoring showed BlackRock newly withdrew 3,899 BTC ($289.88 million) and 839 ETH ($1.95 million) from Coinbase.
3. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated that the Bitcoin quantum-defense proposal BIP-361 put forward by developers including Jameson Lopp has been incorrectly labeled a soft fork; in practice it requires a hard fork, which conflicts with Bitcoin’s cultural resistance to hard forks.
4. Morgan Stanley Digital Assets Strategy head Amy Oldenburg said crypto is transitioning from a peripheral business to a core operational function and “is beginning to become part of everyday business.” She took the role in February and is responsible for integrating digital asset strategy and execution across institutional wealth and asset management, aiming to embed crypto and tokenization into existing infrastructure.
5. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT developer Yuga Labs announced a management shake-up: CEO Greg Solano will move to Chairman of the Board, with Michael Figge stepping into the CEO role. Figge joined the company in 2021 as Chief Product Officer and has been acting CEO for several weeks.
6. Ethereum Foundation executive Josh Stark announced he will depart at the end of this month after a five-year tenure. Stark joined the EF from the Special Projects team, later moved into leadership, worked alongside EF President Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, and multiple co-executive directors, and played a key role in communications and coordination for The Merge as well as the Dencun, Fusaka, and Pectra upgrades.

V. Today’s Market Calendar

Economic Data Release Schedule

Major Event Preview

• Walsh Fed Chair Nomination Hearing Developments: Democratic pressure continues; watch for Senate reactions that could further shape monetary-policy expectations.

Institutional Views

With the rapid implementation of the Middle East ceasefire and meaningful progress in US-Iran nuclear talks, the geopolitical risk premium has dropped sharply. This has driven oil prices lower while significantly lifting global risk-asset pricing. Nomura strategists note that the current US equity rally, fueled by “FOMO” (fear of missing out) and forced short-covering, is not yet over. As long as energy shortages or runaway bond yields do not materialize, investors should avoid fighting the trend. The SP 500 and Nasdaq continue to set fresh record highs, with technology stocks — especially AI-related names — attracting the bulk of inflows. Crypto markets are rebounding in tandem, with Bitcoin holding above $74,000, steady ETF inflows, and relatively mild leverage liquidations, all signaling a repair in risk sentiment. Overall, institutions believe near-term improvement in risk appetite will support continued range-bound to upward bias for US equities and crypto assets. However, caution remains warranted around potential disturbances to long-term rate expectations from Fed leadership changes and any reversal in Middle East developments.

Disclaimer: The above content is compiled by AI search, manually verified and published only, and does not constitute any investment advice.