S&P 500 Smashes Another ATH as Crypto Stocks Ride Euphoric Wave to Record Highs

The S&P 500 just notched another historic close—and guess who’s leading the charge? Crypto stocks, surfing a tidal wave of bullish momentum.

Wall Street’s favorite benchmark index defied gravity (and skeptics) yet again, fueled by digital asset players posting jaw-dropping gains. Because nothing says 'healthy market' like speculative assets outpacing blue chips.

While traditional investors scramble to justify valuations, crypto’s market cap dominance continues its relentless climb—proving once again that money flows where the hype lives. Will fundamentals matter eventually? Sure. But today belongs to the degens.

Coinbase touches intraday high, Ether leads crypto run

Coinbase saw a 2% gain by close and even spiked above the high it hit during its IPO debut in 2021, making it five straight positive weeks for the company. Robinhood closed 4% higher, while Bitmine Immersion, which manages ether reserves, added 1%. The jump came after Trump’s signing, which investors saw as a regulatory green light.

Despite the crypto euphoria, Bitcoin slipped 1%, weighing on firms tied directly to the coin. Strategy, previously known as MicroStrategy, dropped 6%, while Mara Holdings, a mining firm viewed as a bitcoin proxy, fell 2%.

The contrast came as Ether dominated the spotlight, soaring 18% this week alone. That rally brings ether’s two-week performance to 43.6%, its strongest showing since August 2021. Bitcoin, for the same two-week stretch, is slightly down.

Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act — a separate, more comprehensive bill covering crypto market structures — passed the House of Representatives and is now heading to the Senate, which will then send it to Trump, if approved.

Jobless claims fall, retail sales beat expectations

Outside crypto, the day’s economic reports gave traders more reason to stay risk-on. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending July 12 dropped by 7,000, landing at 221,000. That decline hints that layoffs haven’t picked up despite all the noise about rate hikes and inflation. It also helped prop up the narrative that the labor market isn’t breaking.

Another surprise came from the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported that retail sales in June ROSE 0.6% from May. That’s triple the 0.2% estimate that Dow Jones analysts had projected. Consumers are still spending, and that’s keeping companies happy, and investors, even happier.

That spending is starting to show up in corporate earnings. Roughly 50 S&P 500 companies have reported results so far, and 88% of them beat expectations, as tracked by FactSet. Big names like PepsiCo, which gained 7% on Thursday, and United Airlines, which added 3%, were standout winners.

By the end of the week, the S&P 500 is projected to be up 0.6%, with the Dow eyeing a 0.3% gain. But the real winner is the Nasdaq, which is leading all three major indexes with a 1.5% rise so far in the week. That makes tech — and by extension, crypto stocks — the market’s top performers again.

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