Bitcoin and crypto markets are falling as they hold their breath waiting for the Fed’s decision. Recent comments from Chairman Jerome Powell suggest that Fed officials may stop cutting bond purchases due to a worse-than-expected variant of Omicron.
Last week’s market problems have not been resolved. At the time of going to press, Bitcoin and Ethereum are down about 6% from the previous day, according to CoinMarketcap.
Last week closed on news that giant Chinese real estate developer Evergrande could not pay its bond payments in US dollars, dragging stocks and the crypto market down.
But now the pressing concern is whether the US Federal Reserve will change its plans to slow its bond-buying program, which will end in March instead of June. The ramifications of this decision have been evident in the cryptocurrency and stock markets over the past few days.
Bitcoin price has been falling since last Friday. It trades at just over $ 47,000, 31% less than its all-time high of $ 69,044 on November 10, 2021. And Ethereum is trading at over $ 4,000 per bit late last week, trading at around $ 3,800. according to CoinMarketCap.
It looks worse for other coins in the top 10. Solana (SOL) is down 8% and Cardano (ADA) is 6% less than the day before. Meanwhile, the global crypto market cap is at $ 2.12 trillion, down 7% in 24 hours.
Even exchange-traded products linked to crypto assets, like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), fell 4% and 3% respectively on Monday.
Traditional markets don’t do much better. Since opening on Monday morning, the New York Stock Exchange Composite has lost 124 points, or 0.75%.
In terms of the price of gold, every ounce of world gold for immediate delivery after the close of the trading session on December 13th rose $ 4 to $ 1,787.
“Yesterday was a pretty quiet day for gold as the market waited for the Fed meeting to see what it would say about inflation and interest rates,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. “The reality is, no one is expecting it.” a price hike this week. That sentiment supports gold. ”Unless the Fed announces a rate hike in the next quarter, gold could rise above $ 1,800 by the end of the year.
However, the stronger dollar has kept gold hovering in the $ 1,760-1,795 range lately. “In the short to medium term, gold is unlikely to break out of this zone until we know how quickly the Fed will pull the stimulus and whether its view is particularly narrow,” commented Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets.
Hold your breath and wait for the Fed to decide
By the end of last week, economists said they expected the Fed to gradually raise rates, which would mean an early end to mortgage and government-funded bond-buying programs.
“We expect the Fed to announce a doubling of capital outflows at the FOMC meeting in December, bringing monthly withdrawals to $ 20 billion,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a statement last week. ”
Then bond purchases would end in March instead of June. But now there are signs that Fed officials are taking the Omicron variant more seriously than the Delta variant.
Fed Chairman Jermoe Powell wrote in comments to the Senate Banking Committee last week: “Greater concern about the virus could reduce people’s willingness to do personal work, which will slow labor progress and exacerbate supply chain disruptions” .
It remains to be seen whether this “major concern” will lead Fed officials to maintain their originally planned bond purchase programs. At the moment, investors appear to have been tempted to avoid risky volatile investments until there is clarity about the Fed’s monetary policy.
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