Investing.com – Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this year.
Cryptocurrencies Hit The Big Time
Bitcoin's meteoric rise in 2017 sparked cryptomania as investors desperately attempted to get a piece of the action. Bitcoin showed its resilience in 2017, shrugging off regulatory pressures, competition from rival cryptocurrencies and numerous splits or so-called hard forks.
The popular digital currency boasts a return of more than 1400% since the beginning of the year, dwarfing the returns of the traditional benchmarks like the S&P 500.
Investors also welcomed the arrival of new cryptocurrency as Bitcoin Cash was created in August following a split in bitcoin’s blockchain – the digital ledger which records every bitcoin transaction – in an event know as a ‘hard fork’.
The creation of Bitcoin Cash came as concerns grew over the slow speed of transactions on the bitcoin network. With the ability to process transactions not only faster but also cheaper, Bitcoin Cash has surged more than 1000% from its 52-week low.
As 2017 draws to an end, however, interest in bitcoin has waned giving way to the rise of Ripple XRP as the digital currency soared above $1.9 for the first time in its 5-year history.
Ripple simplifies the way financial institutions like banks process their customers’ payments around the world.
“Ripple connects banks, payment providers and digital asset exchanges via RippleNet to provide one frictionless experience to send money globally,” A recent McKinsey study noted.
The native currency of Ripple is XRP – and there’s a finite amount of XRP in existence.
US Stocks Made Multiple Record Highs
The Dow Jones, NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 notched multiple record high through 2017 as bullish earnings and the prospect of stock market-friendly legislation lifting US economic growth fuelled the rally.
President Donald Trump scored his first major legislation victory as lawmakers passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December, which is widely said to be the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system in three decades and includes a provision to slash the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.
The prospect of lower taxes was one of the major catalysts for the move higher in the three main US indexes as investors placed bullish bets on US equities amid expectations that tax cuts would encourage companies to ramp up capital expenditure and buybacks.
WTI Crude Settled Above $60 For First Time Since 2015
WTI crude oil prices gained more than 12% in 2017, settling above $60 for the first time since mid-2015 as OPEC’s strong compliance with the deal to curb output fuelled optimism.