Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving money and markets.
Equity markets are nursing serious wounds after a two-and-a-half trillion dollar wipeout this week, and Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett is urging patience before stepping back in. He wants three signals to align first — watching credit spreads, the dollar, and rate expectations before calling a bottom. That discipline matters more than the dip.
Turning to crypto, Bitcoin ETFs absorbed nearly twice what miners produced in the third quarter, which sounds like a demand story until you read the fine print. Four hundred and thirty million dollars walked out the door on Thursday alone, and older holder balances are quietly declining. Sustained institutional absorption remains very much unproven heading into the next jobs report.
And on the question of what investors should actually do with their businesses during a downturn, Inc. Magazine is making the case that cutting marketing budgets in a falling market is one of the most reliably self-defeating moves a company can make. History backs that up — recessions tend to redistribute market share toward the businesses that hold their nerve and keep spending while competitors go quiet.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
