Analytical reviews of the Forex market

24.03.2023 12:03

Weekly Summary: Markets Cannot Stop Shivering

The week ends on a negative note. Central banks continue to fight inflation, pretending to ignore banking sector troubles. The European Central Bank (ECB) increased its interest rates by 0.50 percentage points last week, while the Federal Reserve (Fed) added another 0.25 p.p. this week. Stock indexes are sliding down to close the week on a negative territory. The reason for this week’s drop is not primarily the Fed, but the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who rolled out an expansion of deposit insurance above $250,000.

22.03.2023 11:03

Crypto Week: Bitcoin Is Gaining Momentum Amid Banking Troubles in the U.S.

Anton Bykov

Bitcoin market cap added $200 billion or 65% since the beginning of 2023, while the S&P 500 broad market index gained 2.5%. Banking troubles inspired crypto enthusiasts, as some think that investors could seek shelter in crypto assets. That is absurd. No fund manager would ever sell risky stocks to buy even more risky cryptocurrencies. However, the stock market in the United States needs to be monitored as the threat of expanding banking troubles has not disappeared yet.

20.03.2023 04:03

Weekly Focus: Markets Are Waiting for the Fed

Anton Bykov

Investors seem to not believe central bankers, as stock markets are sliding down. The S&P 500 broad market index is losing 0.8% and heading towards 3893 points, Brent crude prices are hovering around 18-month lows at $70.20 per barrel, while gold and Bitcoin are gaining around 1%. Central bankers have tried to do everything to calm down markets and eliminate all possibilities of a banking crisis. UBS was led to buy toxic Credit Suisse and promised to extend a $100 billion credit line to save the second largest Swiss bank.

17.03.2023 12:03

Weekly Summary: ECB Is Heading Towards a Downfall, Giving Way to the Fed

Alexander Boltyan

This trading week was extremely volatile with historic monetary policymakers’ decisions and a raging banking crisis. Still, the S&P 500 broad market index is ending the week on the positive side, up by 2.5% to 3970 points. The banking crisis is widening as First Republic Bank, the 14th by assets in the United States, and Credit Suisse, the second largest banking institution in Switzerland, joined the underdogs in the global banking sector. Both European and U.S.

15.03.2023 11:03

Crypto Week: Collapse of U.S. Banks Put Extra Pressure on Cryptos

Anton Bykov

The U.S. government has decided to save clients’ deposits in the battered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (SB), but others were left drowning. This collapse may spur a chain reaction in the national banking system, as it was used by short sellers to raid some banking stocks. Western Alliance and First Republic share prices were dumped by 75% and 65% respectively. The crypto market was certainly affected too. Circle, which issues USDC coin, had deposited $3.3 billion worth of its $40 billion funds to back its obligations in SVB.

13.03.2023 04:03

Weekly Focus: Prices in the U.S., ECB Meeting, and Banking Quake

Alexander Boltyan

The mad weekend, which left markets handing from the edge of the banking crisis in the United States, ended on Monday with an optimistic note when the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the U.S. Ministry of Finance announced the availability of direct loans to banks under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to cover uninsured deposits at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank (SB) that collapsed last week. The Fed and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said they will cover deposits under $250,000, which is a maximum limit per authorized deposit, and other accounts.

10.03.2023 10:03

Weekly Summary: Non-Farm Will Get the Market in Order

Anton Bykov

This week ends with a small amount of havoc as the S&P 500 broad market index lost 4% to 3888 points, while Brent crude prices dropped by 6% to $81 per barrel. There are more signals the meltdown may continue if the Non-Farm Payrolls data will not restore hopes for a possible slowdown of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed). The Chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell, has flagged this havoc during his testimony before Congress after he flipped out the idea of being "prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes” to bring the inflation under control.

09.03.2023 06:03

Crypto Week: Scam Service Shut Down, and Ethereum Updates

Anton Bykov

The famous scam service Monkey Drainer has been suddenly shut down. The service has reported that it is shutting down its phishing smart contract ‘scam as a service’ offerings. The service has been popular among cybercriminals, taking a 30% cut for its services. It offered a fake NFT airdrop that was promoted through hacked Twitter accounts of real projects or via its copies. Once users clicked the link to receive an airdrop, they were instructed to authorise their MetaMask as this is the procedure on Web3 websites.

06.03.2023 12:03

Weekly Focus: Powell Plays a Shell Game, Non-Farm Payrolls Contributing

Anton Bykov

The U.S. stock market has performed its best week so far this year, adding 1.8% to the S&P 500 broad market index that rose to 4050 points. The rise was recorded despite the accelerated Price Managers’ Index (PMI) to 50.6 points during February from 46.6 points in the previous month, confirming persistent high inflation. There is no logic behind this optimism besides Rafael Bostic words, as he is expecting the Federal Reserve (Fed) to put the interest rate hike cycle on pause this summer. The market is seen to pounce on any reason to continue up even if it is an illusion.

03.03.2023 11:03

Weekly Summary: Bostic Has “Stopped” S&P 500 Decline

Alexander Boltyan

This week was rather quiet with no surprises. The S&P 500 index edged lower by 0.2% to 3982 points. Brent crude prices rose by 2.0% to $84.9 per barrel, while the U.S. Dollar index retreated by 0.7% to 104.68 points. Investors were participating in a tug-of-war between strong macroeconomic data from China and hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials. Unexpectedly high business activity indications in China confirmed its rapid recovery after the substantial lifting of COVID restrictions and the reopening of the economy. This fueled quite a lot of optimism in the markets.