Fixed income is once more attracting capital amid concerns regarding the deflation of the artificial intelligence bubble.
Crypto stocks slammed as oil surges, interest rates turn higher, and stocks slide
Advancing gradually at first, petroleum prices have shot straight up over the past few minutes, with West Texas Intermediate crude currently higher by over 3% on the session, reaching a one-month peak of $101 per barrel.
That represents a 16% advance over the last 10 days.
Reports indicate that Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline has been struck in an incident.
United States government bond yields are reacting, with the 10-year Treasury climbing 3.5 basis points to 5.125% following an earlier descent to 5.07%.
The Nasdaq is down 1.5% while bitcoin has retreated to $81,300.
Digital asset equities sustaining losses include Strategy MSTR at -9.2%, Securitize (SECZ) at -13.4%, Coinbase COIN at -3.5%, Circle CRCL at -4%, and Bullish BLSH at -5.9%.
Oil quietly hits one-month high
Having traded lower earlier in the day, front-month WTI crude oil advanced to a one-month peak of $99.40 per barrel, representing a 1.5% daily gain, with the bulk of the movement occurring rapidly over the past few minutes despite the absence of distinct news breaking across the wire.
This market activity may be unnerving the fixed income space, where U.S. Treasury yields have oscillated between losses and gains over the prior hour.
Meanwhile, government statistics show that U.S. refined products inventories, encompassing gasoline and distillates, remain at decade-low levels.
The Nasdaq trades near session lows, off 1.4% for the day.
Bitcoin holds in the vicinity of $81,500.
Bitcoin turns lower as tech declines grow
Following a volatile week of trading across equities and fixed income instruments, Friday experienced a sluggish beginning, though downward momentum is accelerating late in the U.S. morning session.
The Nasdaq is presently lower by 1.2%, dragged down by substantial losses among prominent artificial intelligence-associated entities.
Within the Magnificent Seven, Tesla has reversed downward after launching the session with notable advances stemming from its Roadster presentation the previous evening. Apple stands as the lone gainer within the cohort, advancing 1.1%.
Selling pressure is bleeding into the digital asset sector, where bitcoin has dropped roughly 1% across the last 30 minutes to $81,500.
Government debt is attracting bids, sending the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield barely lower on the session at 5.08% after touching 5.13% earlier.
Bounce in neoclods proves short-lived, with CoreWeave down 8%
Following days of unrelenting liquidation, the neocloud providers—former bitcoin mining operations converted into data center operators supporting the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector—staged a strong rebound on Thursday, with many finishing the session in positive territory following early steep losses.
However, selling has resumed on Friday, sending CoreWeave (CRWV) down 8% and expanding its weekly loss past 20%.
Hut 8, IREN, CleanSpark, Keel Infrastructure, and Cipher Mining are all lower by approximately 6%.
In a Friday bulletin, Goldman Sachs emphasized that the widening of high-yield credit spreads represents an artificial intelligence narrative, noting that non-AI spreads increased only marginally this week while AI-aligned spreads blew out by 25 basis points.
“We view AI-related corporate bonds, from either neoclouds or firms with significant frontier lab exposure, as being at the epicenter of the funding cost debate,” stated Amanda Lynam of the financial institution.
Anthropic asked to delay IPO by NYC comptroller
“I write to urge Anthropic to pause its planned initial public offering until the company fully and transparently addresses the artificial intelligence safety, governance, and development pace concerns it has raised,” communicated New York City Comptroller Mark Levine in a letter to Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei this week.
Levine underscored in the correspondence that, in his capacity as comptroller, he functions as an investment advisor, custodian, and trustee for municipal pension portfolios holding in excess of $325 billion in total capital.
AI-related selloff continues in early Friday trading
The technology segment staged a recovery from critical levels on Thursday, though liquidations have restarted during U.S. market hours on Friday morning.
The Nasdaq declines by 0.7%, whereas the less AI-dependent S&P 500 remains flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 0.7%.
Micron, Intel, AMD, Dell, SanDisk, and KLA Tencor are among the equities dropping between 3% and 5%.
Retractions among the Magnificent Seven are considerably milder, with Tesla trading slightly higher following its flying vehicle demonstration the prior night.
Bitcoin changes hands steadily around $82,000, registering a 2% increase compared to 24 hours prior.
Strive raises $630 million with new preferred offering
Bitcoin treasury enterprise Strive ASST expanded the size of its newly issued high-yielding preferred equity instrument, known as SATS, to 7 million units, up from the initial 5 million plan.
The placement was executed at a price of $90 per share, yielding gross proceeds of $630 million for the organization.
The press release is accessible here.
At a $90 valuation, the realized yield on the 15% dividend-bearing security equates to a striking 16.67%.
Strategy declares conditional daily dividend for STRC to begin November 1
Spearheaded by Michael Saylor, the enterprise communicated its intention weeks ago to transition its high-yield preferred security, STRC, from monthly to daily dividend distributions.
This modification is contingent upon a shareholder referendum currently underway, with outcomes slated for release on October 28.
Today’s disclosure is consequently dependent on a favorable vote backing the shift toward daily payouts.
Despite mounting a formidable recovery from the panic-driven depths experienced earlier in the summer, STRC continues changing hands just beneath its par value, closing yesterday at $99.53, which restricts Saylor and his group from securing additional capital for bitcoin acquisitions through fresh share issuances.
Warsh isn’t ruling out October rate hike, but markets mostly have
“I don’t prejudge meetings,” remarked Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh during an evening fireside conversation at an International Monetary Fund gathering. “I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings we have.”
“It’s a new chapter at the Fed, and we’re not in that business anymore.”
Warsh defended the September interest rate increase as an imperative step toward subduing inflation pressures.
He characterized the artificial intelligence boom as the single most critical phenomenon impacting worldwide economies presently, noting its potential to generate pricing friction. While efficiency enhancements will materialize eventually, the transitional path will prove uneven, he explained.
Borrowing costs sit modestly higher relative to yesterday’s settlement, with the benchmark 10-year U.S. yield advancing 2.9 basis points to reach 5.12%.
Expectations for an October central bank rate increase have receded to 15%, down from nearly 45% immediately following Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index publication.
The recent inflation-triggered contraction in crypto markets represents a short-term reaction rather than an indication of fundamental distress, according to Catherine Chen, institutional head at Binance.
“The CPI-driven selloff is a sentiment shock, not a structural break,” Chen stated, referencing the Consumer Price Index gauge of domestic price pressures.
Chen anticipates inflation reaching a top around October, with clearer indications of moderation potentially surfacing by March 2027. Reduced energy expenses and softening inflation metrics could eventually assist digital asset valuations in mounting a recovery, she noted.
“A difficult trading day does not determine the outlook for the next several months,” Chen added. “The window for relief may already be approaching.”
ZEC jumps 11% even as its ETF loses $15 million
Bitcoin climbed back above $82,000 on Friday, reversing a brief descent beneath $80,000 from the previous day, as ZEC spearheaded a wider digital asset recovery with an 11% surge to approximately $1,230—even as participants withdrew capital from the asset’s exclusive U.S. exchange-traded fund.
Solana and ether both advanced in excess of 3%, reaching roughly $106 and $2,450 respectively, while Dogecoin and Ripple added between 2% and 3%. Binance Coin, HYPE, and Tron appreciated by roughly 1%, and bitcoin gained nearly 1%, based on metrics provided by CoinDesk.
This recovery has not extended to the exchange-traded fund vehicles. The domestic spot ZEC product suffered approximately $15 million in redemptions on Thursday, marking its fifth outflow session throughout the month, according to SoSoValue statistics. Ether funds shed around $60 million, whereas Solana vehicles dropped nearly $10 million, logging their ninth consecutive day of capital flight. Ripple-backed funds experienced a minor withdrawal.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracted a modest net intake of $5 million, representing a meager inflow following Wednesday’s $261 million exodus.
A second straight session of positive flows into bitcoin exchange-traded funds would serve as the inaugural signal that the rebound from the $80,000 threshold enjoys genuine buyer support.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/16/live-updates-bitcoin-back-above-usd82-000-zec-jumps-11-as-etf-outflows-continue.
