FX.co ★ Bitcoin vs. S&P 500: who will win in anticipation of economic data?

Wall Street securities posted declines at the end of trading on Monday, missing previous strong gains. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury bond yields rose amid investor expectations of key employment data and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech to Congress later this week.

Bitcoin has been at the center of the action, helped by its incredibly sharp rise and nearing its first record high since November 2021.

At the same time as European stocks have failed to come close to their previous performance, the major US stock indices have also failed to break through their ceiling and push higher.

The three major US indices fought desperately to rise over the latter part of the session, but failed to show positive momentum in the final hour.

The S&P 500 index showed a moderate decline, while the Nasdaq and Dow indices registered more pronounced declines.

Continued gains in shares of chip makers such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) helped the S&P 500 Index set new intraday trading records during the session as investors continued to bet on demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled products, although they were generally cautious ahead of economic data.

The S&P 500 Communication Services Index (.SPLRCS) was the underperforming sector on the list, down 1.5%, while the Defense Index (.SPLRCU), which added 1.6%, posted the largest positive gain of the day.

In contrast, Apple (AAPL.O) was negative, down 2.5% after a $2 billion EU antitrust fine barred Spotify (SPOT.N) and other music streaming services from informing users about payment options outside its App Store.

Based on the words of Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, investors were on the lookout for information on the health of the U.S. economy from key monthly data such as services sector data due out on Tuesday and non-farm payrolls data due out on Friday.

The Nasdaq started the month by incredibly breaking its own record on Friday during the trading day, while also ending trading at its highest level in two consecutive days as the artificial intelligence-driven technology rally continues to draw attention on Wall Street.

Shares of artificial intelligence server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) were up 18.6%, and shares of footwear maker Deckers Outdoor (DECK.N) were up 2.6% ahead of its inclusion in the S&P 500 index.

Securities of retailer Macy's posted an excellent 13.5% gain as real estate investment holdings Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management raised their offer to buy the supermarket chain.

Investors are wary of Powell's upcoming two-day congressional testimony on Wednesday and Thursday, the European Central Bank's policy decision and the Labor Department's important February employment report, which will be released early Friday morning.

On average, analysts believe the U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 97.55 points, or 0.25%, to 38,989.83, the S&P 500 Index (.SPX) lost 6.13 points, or 0.12%, to 5,130.95, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 67.43 points, or 0.41%, to 16,207.51.

European stocks closed just below an all-time high as investors digested recent gains and waited in anticipation for the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) lost 0.03%, while the MSCI World Stock Index (.MIWD00000PUS) lost 0.01%.

Emerging-market stocks rose 0.51%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) closed 0.57% higher and Japan's Nikkei (.N225) rose 0.50%.

Bitcoin rose to a more than two-year peak. The cryptocurrency was last up 8.1% to $67,655, approaching the intraday record reached in November 2021.

The dollar was little changed against a basket of global currencies. The dollar index (.DXY) fell 0.03%, while the euro rose 0.16% to $1.0854.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.27% against the U.S. dollar to 150.53 per dollar, while the pound sterling last traded at $1.2689, up 0.31% for the day.

U.S. Treasury bond yields rose. The benchmark 10-year bond was last down 9/32 to 4.217% from 4.182% late Friday night.

The 30-year bond was last down 14/32 at 4.3522% from 4.327% late Friday night.

Oil prices reversed earlier gains as demand concerns offset a widely expected OPEC+ decision to extend production cuts.

U.S. crude oil fell 1.54% to settle at $78.74 a barrel, while Brent settled at $82.80, down 0.9% for the day.

Gold jumped as market participants bolstered their bets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in June.

Spot gold added 1.6 percent to $2116.77 an ounce.