U.S. Stocks and Finance

Bitcoin briefly plunged nearly 12% intraday to dip below $85,000 before settling about 5.6% down just above $85,000 by late afternoon, leaving it roughly 33% below its Oct. 6 record high. The rout—backed by $3.6 billion of spot ETF outflows in November, steep losses in crypto-exposed U.S. stocks and bitcoin futures down about 24% over the past month—has been linked to institutional selling, long-holder profit-taking, a more hawkish Fed and stalled regulation, prompting some holders such as MicroStrategy to cut year-end BTC forecasts to $85,000–$110,000.