Stock Markets Today: Bitcoin falls, Japan wage talks, UK election, China economy

Good morning. Bitcoin falls from the latest record high, big Japan bets and a signal from Sunak on UK election. Here’s what people are talking about.

Bitcoin retreated from its record high amid an intensifying debate about whether the latest bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative froth in global markets. The largest digital asset dropped more than 3% to around $68,000 as of 1:12 p.m. on Friday in Singapore, having set an all-time peak of almost $73,798 a day earlier. Bets on looser Federal Reserve monetary policy have helped to drive powerful rallies in global stocks, bonds and crypto in the past few months, but investors are reassessing such wagers following recent evidence of persistent inflationary pressure in the US.