AUD/USD posts gain, yet dive below 0.6500 amid Aussie CPI, ahead of US GDP
The Aussie Dollar finished Wednesday’s session with decent gains of 0.15% against the US Dollar, yet it retreated from weekly highs of 0.6529, which it hit after a hotter-than-expected inflation report. As the Asian session begins, the AUD/USD trades around 0.6495.
USD/JPY finds its highest bids since 1990, approaches 156.00
USD/JPY broke into its highest chart territory since June of 1990 on Wednesday, peaking near 155.40 for the first time in 34 years as the Japanese Yen continues to tumble across the broad FX market.
Gold stays firm amid higher US yields as traders await US GDP data
Gold recovers from recent losses, buoyed by market interest despite a stronger US Dollar and higher US Treasury yields. De-escalation of Middle East tensions contributed to increased market stability, denting the appetite for Gold buying.
Ethereum suffers slight pullback, Hong Kong spot ETH ETFs to begin trading on April 30
Ethereum suffered a brief decline on Wednesday afternoon despite increased accumulation from whales. This follows Ethereum restaking protocol Renzo restaked ETH crashing from its 1:1 peg with ETH and increased activities surrounding spot Ethereum ETFs.
Dow Jones Industrial Average hesitates on Wednesday as markets wait for key US data
The DJIA stumbled on Wednesday, falling from recent highs near 38,550.00 as investors ease off of Tuesday’s risk appetite. The index recovered as US data continues to vex financial markets that remain overwhelmingly focused on rate cuts from the US Fed.
DEEPER DIVE
Cyclical outlook: Known unknowns
In the US, the latest Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia paints a rather upbeat picture of the economic outlook. A similar survey of the ECB points towards a gradual pickup in growth this year.
Building the future
There is a construction boom underway that is quietly transforming the production capabilities and other aspects of the US economy. The fastest-growing category within nonresidential construction in recent years has been manufacturing.
Addressing the public debt challenge in the EU
Recently an agreement has been reached between representatives of the European Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission on a new economic governance framework.
FXS Signals
Technical Confluences Detector
XAU/USD keeps consolidating ahead of US first-tier figures Premium
Gold consolidative phase continued on Wednesday, with XAU/USD seesawing around $2,325.00 a troy ounce. Financial markets are gearing up for upcoming first-tier United States (US) data following a batch of discouraging figures. Following softer-than-anticipated S&P Global PMIs released on Monday, the country reported Durable Goods Orders rose 2.3% in March, missing the 2.5% anticipated. Furthermore, the February reading was downwardly revised to 1.5% from the previous estimate of 2.2%.
Overall, US data is showing the economy is not doing well enough for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to maintain rates at current record highs for as long as policymakers may want. Market participants are starting to suspect so and will get some certainties in the next couple of days. On Thursday, the US will release the preliminary estimate of the Q1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is expected to show that the economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.5% in the three months to March. On Friday, the focus will shift to the March Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) favorite inflation gauge.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Vitalik Buterin slams controversial gambling project ZKasino following scam allegations
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin took to Warpcaster, a new type of social network, to condemn ZKasino, a decentralized gambling platform based on Layer 2 Ethereum protocol zkSync.
Starknet jumps 2% after notice inviting specific groups to claim STRK airdrop
Starknet Foundation addressed the groups within the STRK community that were unable to receive the token’s airdrop during the first round. The Layer 2 chain organized an airdrop event in February.
XRP price capped at $0.55 despite retail holdings nearing all-time highs
Ripple price (XRP) failed to break resistance at $0.55 early Wednesday as traders continue to digest Ripple’s recent response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) allegations of illegally selling XRP as a security.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao could face three-year jail time
US prosecutors are requesting Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) to serve a three-year jail time, according to a Reuters report published Wednesday.
THE STOCK OF THE DAY
Tesla Q1 Earnings: What you need to know Premium
As soon as the closing bell rang on Tuesday, Tesla (TSLA) was out with its first-quarter results. They were nearly as bad as expected, but the TSLA share price disregarded the miss, rising more than 5%.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR
WEEKLY FORECAST
EUR/USD: Euro touches five-month low on growing expectations that ECB will ease before Fed Premium
EUR/USD managed to counter a poor start of the week and reverse course despite the European currency slipping back to the 1.0600 key support against the US Dollar (USD), or five-month lows.
GBP/USD: More downside for Pound Sterling remains on cards Premium
The Pound Sterling (GBP) accelerated its south run against the US Dollar (USD), knocking the GBP/USD pair to levels unseen since late November 2023.
US Dollar: Holding up gains amid hawkish Fed, geopolitical tensions Premium
The Greenback ended the week barely changed after the sharp increase recorded in the previous one, despite hitting new five-month peaks in the boundaries of 106.50 when tracked by the USD Index (DXY) on April 16.
Gold: Will geopolitics continue to drive XAU/USD? Premium
Gold (XAU/USD) price fluctuated in a relatively narrow range this week following the record-setting rally. Investors will continue to pay close attention to headlines surrounding the Iran-Israel conflict and scrutinize key macroeconomic data releases from the US next week.
Bitcoin: BTC post-halving rally could be partially priced in Premium
Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly slipped below the $60,000 level for the last three days, attracting buyers in this area as the fourth BTC halving is due in a few hours. Is the halving priced in for Bitcoin? Or will the pioneer crypto note more gains in the coming days?
Week ahead – US GDP and BoJ decision on top of next week’s agenda
US GDP, core PCE and PMIs the next tests for the Dollar. Investors await BoJ for guidance about next rate hike. EU and UK PMIs, as well as Australian CPIs also on tap. Earnings season heats up as tech giants report.