The price of bitcoin surged over 8% today and in the process smashed right through the $5,000 level as well as the prior highs from September 1st.  Where this run ends is anyone’s guess, but trying to call the top in the past has been like stepping between a politician and a microphone.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!

With bitcoin breaking through another 1,000 point threshold today, you may be wondering, “just how much bitcoin is there?”  Courtesy of @CoinMktCap, we found that with just over 16.6 million bitcoins in circulation, the total value of bitcoins in circulation is over $87 billion which is larger than the market cap of all but 62 companies in the S&P 500.  Behind bitcoin, though, there are also another 11 crypto-currencies with a total circulation valued at more than $1 billion!  In the startup world, companies with a valuation above $1 billion are called unicorns, so along those lines, below we list the 12 digital currencies that currently qualify as “Crypto-corns” with circulation values of more than $1 billion.

This week’s sentiment survey from AAII showed an increase in bullish sentiment back near 40% and back near the recent high of 41.29% from mid-September.  While 40% is hardly an extreme reading by any stretch of the imagination, this year there have only been four weeks where bullish sentiment actually topped 40%.  With 40% being hard enough, an actual majority is a long way off, and that should keep the current streak of 145 straight weeks below 50% safe for the foreseeable future.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!

As you might expect, bearish sentiment declined this week, falling from 32.8% down to 26.9%.  That’s the lowest reading in five weeks and sixth lowest weekly print in bearish sentiment this year.

December 1973.  That’s the last time continuing jobless claims have been below this week’s print of 1.889 mln.  Think about that for a minute.  The median American age is currently 37.8 years old, so the majority of Americans weren’t even alive the last time claims were this low.  Every week it seems like the weekly jobless claims report can’t top the recent reports of the past, but then we get another reading like this.  Eventually the tide will turn, but for now, it keeps moving in the right direction.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!

Weekly jobless claims came in lower than expected this week falling from 258K down to 243K.  This week’s print was the lowest since 8/25, which was right before the triple whammy of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria struck the US and its territories.  While the Department of Labor did note that claims from Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the Virgin Islands were impacted, as the chart below illustrates, the impact of this Summer’s hurricanes was not nearly as impactful as Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012 implying a much stronger foundation for US employment.  It has now been 136 straight weeks since weekly claims last topped 300K – a level that used to be considered as good as it gets.  Looking ahead, we’ll have to watch out west to see if the California fires have any impact on claims in California.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!

On a four-week moving average basis, claims are also starting to tick lower as this week’s reading fell by 9.5K down to 257.5K.  Again, to think that the US has been swamped with three major hurricanes and the four-week moving average of claims never went more than 35K above the multi-decade low of 235.5K from mid-May is incredible.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, weekly claims rose to 228K from 204.7K last week.  For the current week of the year, this was the lowest print since 1973 and nearly 115K below the average of 343K for the current week dating back to 2000.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!

With minimal percentage moves on a seemingly daily basis, the DJIA is coming extremely close to having its least volatile year on record.  Below, we show the index’s average daily percentage (positive or negative) move by year going back to 1900.  So far in 2017, the DJIA has seen an average daily move of just 0.306%.  The only other year on record where the average daily move was smaller was in 1964 and at 0.302% it was just barely lower at that.

Keep in mind that there is still another two and a half months left to go in 2017, so this average could certainly rise or fall from here.  In order to make a run for the record books, the DJIA has to average a daily move of +/- 0.29% or less (~65 points) for the remainder of the year.  Considering that the DJIA has averaged a daily move of 61 points since the start of September through now (a time of year where volatility typically peaks), 65 points or less wouldn’t be a stretch.

Gain access to 1 month of any of Bespoke’s premium membership levels for $1!