- Let’s run through the macro data that came out this week
- And see what news influenced the BTC charts
Every Monday we prepare an economic calendar for readers. It helps you track investor sentiment and predict your actions. Now let’s summarize. Let’s look at the economic week and the market in general perspective.
What’s happening with bitcoin
The world of blockchain continues to evolve, and Bitcoin is back in the spotlight. This week, the king of cryptocurrencies broke through the $30,000 mark and hit a 2-month high. Experts believe that this is due to a wave of applications for exchange-traded funds. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management giant, as well as firms Valkyrie, Invesco, WisdomTree and Bitwise all filed within 10 days.
Bitcoin’s dominance jumped above the 50% level, a two-year high. April 2021 was the extreme period when BTC dominance exceeded 49%. At the time, the cryptocurrency king was trading above $53,000.
Trial proceedings in recent weeks have led to sharp losses in the cryptocurrency market. U.S. investors began withdrawing funds dramatically after Binance warned it was losing support from traditional banking partners. But today there was important news – Binance US agreed with banks and resumed withdrawal of fiat dollars.
In parallel in the world there are a number of other important processes. They influenced the market in one way or another.
Monday. ECB member speech
It was a quiet day on Monday because the U.S. stock markets were resting (national holiday). By late afternoon the U.S. housing market index came out, reflecting builder sentiment. It hit an 11-month high of 55 in June, beating analysts’ expectations. A metric above 50 indicates that more homebuilders consider the state of the market good than bad. Which means the experts’ gloomy forecasts aren’t quite coming true.
There was also a speech Monday by ECB Executive Board member Philip R. Lane. He said that another interest rate hike in July seems appropriate. And September’s decision will depend on further data. The MEP is fairly confident about the chances of inflation quickly falling to the 2% target set by the central bank.
Bitcoin fluctuated in a narrow channel after the weekend at and continued sideways movement at $26,000. Ether has recovered from a three-month low set in the middle of last week and has stabilized above $1700.. China’s Problems and U.S. Real Estate
The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday cut prime rates on one- and five-year loans to 3.55% and 4.2%. Authorities said in comments that they were trying to speed up the recovery from the pandemic, it was slower than expected. This has lowered investor appetite, which had previously predicted a sharp rise for the Middle Kingdom.
In addition, U.S. transportation giant FedEx Corp.. provided a worse-than-expected outlook in its fourth-quarter report. He cited “continued weakness in demand,” according to Bloomberg.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Census Bureau data on the number of new construction. In May it reached 1.63 million, which is 20% more than in April. Data far exceeded analysts’ expectations of a 0.1% decline. This points to strong U.S. housing market demand and a strong economy overall.
Bitcoin rose nearly 2% on Tuesday, but lost its bullish momentum at around $27,000. Ether continued to fluctuate in a narrow range just above $1700.
Wednesday. UK recession and Powell’s landmark speech
Macro data Wednesday began with news from the UK. National inflation remained at 8.7%, while economists had expected a decline to 8.4%.
The main event of the day was Fed Chairman Powell’s speech to the U.S. Congress.. He said the interest rate should be higher to tame inflation. The CPI is now around 4.05%, double the Fed’s goal of 2%.
For the crypto market, Powell’s view that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have “endurance” as an asset class has become more important. And that the central bank considers stabelcoins used for payments to be a form of money. Toward the end, the official said the central bank should take a more active role in regulating stablcoin.</nbsp;
On such statements, Bitcoin gained bullish momentum and rose to its strongest level since May. By Wednesday night it was trading above $28,800. Ether climbed to $1800.
Thursday. Crypto-market euphoria
The US initial jobless claims data for the week came out yesterday. They were unchanged at 264,000 (same as the previous week). The number of applications is the highest level since October 2021.
Later came the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index for May. It fell to -0.15 from 0.14.</nbsp;
Also yesterday was the second day of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s speech. He reiterated that interest rates are likely to rise further.
The Bank of England (BoE) surprised markets Thursday with a 50-basis-point rate hike (instead of the expected 25 bps).. Authorities have said they will need to tighten monetary policy further if inflation proves more sustainable.
This news has not deterred the optimism of crypto investors. Valkyrie applied for registration of a spot bitcoin ETF yesterday. This is the fourth major investment in the past week.</nbsp;
The ETF filings have raised hopes for a resurgence of institutional interest in the crypto industry, which is struggling with U.S. repression.</nbsp;
The positive momentum for the crypto market has been fueled by Mastercard Inc, the second-largest payment provider in the world. They announced they would expand the Engage network to include more blockchain and digital asset partners. Mastercard Engage connects businesses with qualified payment providers and supports transfers in various cryptocurrencies.
This positive news was reflected in the charts. Bitcoin broke through $30,000, followed by most altcoins.. Eurozone PMI
S&P Global today releases preliminary June manufacturing and services PMI surveys for Germany, the Eurozone, the U.K. and the U.S.. It turns out that business sentiment in the EU has deteriorated significantly. PMI fell 2.5% to 50.3%. This indicates that economic growth in the Eurozone has virtually come to a halt after a brief spring boom.
The dollar index has strengthened against this background and is now at 103 p.p.. At the same time, stock indices and cryptocurrencies fell slightly.
After yesterday’s rise, bitcoin lost 0.3% and is trading at $30.002.83. Ethereum stands at $1,883.85.
The cryptocurrency market was affected by news from Nevada regulator. He ordered Prime Trust cryptocurrency custodian to stop operations. Authorities argue that the firm cannot perform customer withdrawals because of “a lack of customer funds.”. The move raised market concerns because Prime Trust was a technical partner of TrueUSD (TUSD), the fifth-largest stabler by market capitalization.
BTC, however, ends the week up 17%.. Ether has added 12%.
Despite the recent rise, the price of bitcoin has remained well below the record $70,000 level reached at the end of 2021. Cryptocurrency trading volume has also fallen in recent weeks due to uncertainty caused by SEC lawsuits.
This is the end of the trading week. Don’t miss our new economic calendar on Monday. Also don’t forget to follow the latest news on our website. Have a great weekend, everyone!