Bitcoin News and Finance
Investors Predict Fed to Hike Rates This Week — Reactions From Crypto, Stocks, Gold Market Expected Skip to main content

Investors Predict Fed to Hike Rates This Week — Reactions From Crypto, Stocks, Gold Market Expected

Investors Predict Fed to Hike Rates This Week — Reactions From Crypto, Stocks, Gold Market Expected

The U.S. central bank is expected to raise its target fed funds rate on Wednesday for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. Analysts and economists are hyper-focused on this key event, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues in Europe. If the Federal Reserve decides to increase the rate by a quarter percentage point from zero, investors wonder how stock markets, crypto prices, and investments like precious metals will react to the news.

A 25 Basis Point Increase Is Expected — Anxiety Revolves Around the Fed’s Next Moves

Last week, the world watched as financial sanctions were used against Russia and the price of gold soared to an all-time high reaching $2,060 per ounce. Energy stocks, oil, and a myriad of commodities also jumped considerably in value during the last seven days. Cryptocurrency markets last week were lackluster, volume is down, and action remained flat after a brief price jump on March 9, 2022.

Stocks on the other hand suffered a great deal and indexes like the NYSE, Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closed the day in red on Friday afternoon (EST). Making matters worse, data stemming from the U.S. Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows consumer prices tapped a 40-year high at 7.9% in February.

A key event this week for all of the aforementioned markets will be on Wednesday. That’s when the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to increase the benchmark bank rate for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase is anticipated to be a mere quarter-point hike, but investors will also be wondering if the Fed reveals a series of rate hikes for the rest of the year.

During a panel discussion on March 11, Oxbow Advisors managing partner, Ted Oakley, said he expects a 25 basis point increase this Wednesday.

“I want to look at what we might see happen with the Fed. Obviously, next week, we’re expecting a 25 basis point increase there,” Oakley said. “A lot of concern that we saw the markets still didn’t seem to be that settled about what the Fed might do next. How do you plan around this? How do you position your portfolio when you’re not really sure how aggressive the Fed will be?”

Fed Watch Tool Predicts 25 Basis Point Increase, Report Shows Futures Markets Predict an ‘Aggressive’ Series of Rate Hikes

CME’s Fed Watch Tool is also expecting the U.S. central bank to raise rates by 0.25 percentage points. A Bloomberg report published on Sunday further details that after the first rate hike, the Fed could get more “aggressive.”

“Futures markets show around 165 basis points of tightening this year, or the equivalent of at least six quarter-point increases,” Bloomberg’s Craig Torres and Olivia Rockeman explain. At the House Financial Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said he thinks it’s a good idea to move forward normalizing rates. At the meeting, Zandi stated:

To ensure that the economy continues to expand and avoid recession, I do think that it’s important to normalize interest rates.

Crypto Markets Remain Lusterless, Gold Sheds 3.49%, Monetary Easing Tactics to End

On Sunday afternoon, the price of one ounce of gold is lower than the $2,060 high it saw last week. An ounce of gold is currently exchanging hands for $1,980 per ounce of .999 fine gold. At the time of writing, the global crypto market capitalization is hovering around $1.78 trillion down 2.6% during the last 24-hours.

Crypto markets remain lusterless with only a few tokens gathering single-digit gains on Sunday. Digital currency supporters will be watching the Fed’s move on Wednesday to see if it affects crypto markets negatively. As far as most reports are concerned, there’s not much of a chance that the central bank won’t raise its target fed funds rate this month.

Just like the futures markets and CME’s Fed Watch Tool, most analysts and economists agree that Fed chair Jerome Powell’s and the U.S. central bank’s monetary easing tactics are coming to an end.

“[Jerome] Powell can’t really afford to be dovish at this point, it would be inconsistent with what sound policy is and where policy needs to be heading,” Derek Tang, an economist at Monetary Policy Analytics in Washington said on Sunday.

What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory